Curtis Morrison, one of the Louisville, Ky. political operatives tied the Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) secret tape case, has started a “legal defense fund” on a fundraising website.
Morrison created the fund on the website gofundme.com on Monday, and set a $10,000 fundraising goal.
“I have been cooperating with the ongoing FBI investigation into how the recording was made,” Morrison wrote. “While my lawyer is charging a reasonable rate, I could use some help, and would be grateful for whatever you can pitch in.”
Morrison has been relatively quiet since last week, when a low-level Democratic party official in Louisville named him and another activist, Shawn Reilly, as the people behind the recordings published by Mother Jones last week. The recordings captured a private meeting in which McConnell and aides discussed their potential opponent, Ashley Judd.
Reilly, the executive director of the Democratic super PAC Progress Kentucky, lawyered up last week. Reilly’s lawyer, Ted Shouse, told TPM that their client was merely a witness to the incident, and that he was cooperating with federal officials looking into the matter. Shouse also said that his client had provided authorities with evidence “to assist them in locating” Morrison, a blogger and former Progress Kentucky volunteer.
Morrison’s statement on his legal defense fund page stopped short of discussing any involvement he had in the recording, or refuting Reilly’s version of events. Morrison did write that any funds left over would be used “for living expenses, food, finding a new apartment, etc.- until I can procure new employment, hopefully writing.”
Read the whole statement Morrison wrote for his fund:
My name is Curtis Morrison. Recently there was release of a recording illustrating Sen. Mitch McConnell’s ‘Whack-A-Mole’-style approach to politics that illustrates McConnell’s insensitivity to those of us who speak freely about our religious beliefs and/or who suffer from depression or mental illness.
The recordings also contain evidence suggesting that McConnell used federal employees and a mysterious third party to gather his Whack-A-Mole research. CREW has asked both Senate Ethics and the FBI to investigate those issues. If/when any investigations are started regarding those abuses of power, I will cooperate fully in them.
Meanwhile, I have been cooperating with the ongoing FBI investigation into how the recording was made. While my lawyer is charging a reasonable rate, I could use some help, and would be grateful for whatever you can pitch in.
If there’s any funds leftover, I humbly would like to use them for living expenses, food, finding a new apartment, etc.- until I can procure new employment, hopefully writing.
Thank you for your consideration.
One more thing, if you suffer from depression or mental illness, you are not alone, and you, we, do not deserve to be marginalized or held back for generational diseases.
