Recording Reveals TN House Speaker Yelling At Leaker: ‘I Hate That You Did That’

Republican Rep. Glen Casada of Franklin presents his bill to require children to be older to qualify for kindergarten during a House floor in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Democrats argued the measu... Republican Rep. Glen Casada of Franklin presents his bill to require children to be older to qualify for kindergarten during a House floor in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Democrats argued the measure would lead to layoffs of teachers and deny early education opportunities to children. The measure passed largely along party lines. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Embattled Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada (R) was caught on a recorded phone call yelling at an unnamed associate for leaking racist and sexist text messages sent by his now-ex chief of staff to the media.

“You haven’t released any personal text messages Cade would have sent you, have you?” he asked the associate — whose name Nashville’s NewsChannel 5 withheld — referring to his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren. “It sounds like you might have…. I hate that you did that.”

Just a day after the recorded call, Casada took to the airwaves to question the authenticity of the texts, especially as it became clear that he participated in some of the conversations.

“In this environment that we live in — because we as conservatives are winning the intellectual battle — I’m convinced that some liberal guy living with his mom and dad in their basement created this to frame my chief of staff,” Casada said on local radio station WWTN.

He changed his tune Monday when Cothren admitted that he sent at least some of the messages, which exposed his drug use in government buildings along with his sexual harassment of interns and offhand racist comments.

Cothren has now stepped down under immense political pressure, and Democrats are clamoring for Casada’s resignation. The speaker has dismissed his participation in the unsavory conversations as “locker room talk.”

For a deep dive on the many facets of the unfurling scandal, read here.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. “In this environment that we live in — because we as conservatives are winning the intellectual battle — I’m convinced that some liberal guy living with his mom and dad in their basement created this to frame my chief of staff,” Casada said on local radio station WWTN.

    Oh, man… That is {chef kissing fingers} good.

  2. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    So, just to review the bidding, he absolutely knew during that radio interview that all the leaked messages were authentic. Counting down to a public apology in Aleph-1, Aleph-1, Aleph-1…

  3. If he ends up resigning, he can just run in Alabama. They’ll elect him.

  4. Another criminal member of the Republican conspiracy. “Lock him up!!”

  5. At a minimum, does hiring people like this add credence to a claim of “winning the intellectual battle.”

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

27 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for paulw Avatar for gizmolatch Avatar for ajm Avatar for jamesjc Avatar for earlgreyparty Avatar for epicurus Avatar for commiedearest Avatar for enon Avatar for quitty Avatar for progress Avatar for egyptsteve Avatar for sparrowhawk Avatar for alansnipes734 Avatar for zlohcuc Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for formerchild Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for grack Avatar for euglena4056 Avatar for surge Avatar for drtv Avatar for pwmesq Avatar for rascal_crone

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: