Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) campaign manager pushed back forcefully on Thursday after a phone recording surfaced in which he can be heard saying that he’s only working for the incumbent to bolster the White House prospects for his old boss, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
“It is truly sick that someone would record a private phone conversation I had out of kindness and use it to try to hurt me,” Benton, who ran Paul’s 2010 campaign, said in the statement provided to TPM. “I believe in Senator McConnell and am 100 percent committed to his re-election. Being selected to lead his campaign is one of the great honors of my life and I look forward to victory in November of 2014.”
The conversation was recorded on Jan. 9 by conservative activist and former Ron Paul aide Dennis Fusaro. Fusaro told The Weekly Standard that he waited until now to release the recording because he wanted Benton to “do the right thing” with regard to allegations that Ron Paul bribed an Iowa lawmaker.
“He’s incapable of doing the right thing,” Fusaro said.
This post has been updated.
