Republican leaders said Tuesday they have identified “a person of interest” who may have leaked to media outlets illegally taped conversations during the GOP’s House-Senate retreat in Philadelphia last week.
“They have somebody,” Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, told the Washington Examiner after a closed-door meeting with House Republicans.
House Conference Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., didn’t identify the individual during the meeting, but she said the investigation appeared close to conclusion.
“What came through today is that they are fairly confident they know who it is, but they are not releasing that until they cross the rest of the t’s and dot the rest of the i’s,” Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., said. “They believe they know who it is.”
Collins pointed out that GOP lawmakers have in the past leaked information out of closed-door meetings.
While the GOP retreat leaker has not been identified, retreat organizers told Republicans last week that a woman who falsely claimed to be the wife of a Republican lawmaker entered the event on the day President Trump, Vice President Pence, and British Prime Minister Theresa May appeared.
It’s not clear if she is the person of interest in the case.
Taped audio of internal retreat discussions were leaked to several news outlets who then reported that the talks showed internal confusion and division among Republicans planning the 2017 agenda, including the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.
“There is nothing that was leaked that was so damaging,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., told the Washington Examiner. “We have been pretty much out in the open about what we think.”
