“The fact is, I did nothing wrong,” Bryant said in a statement in May 2023. “I wasn’t aware of the wrongdoings of others."
I had no part in this! I was just an incompetent governor and supervisor! How dare you!
And Wolfe said it’s not clear more money is getting to Mississippi’s poorest. According to state figures, as of June, 1,423 families and 2,522 individuals are receiving federal welfare grants administered by Mississippi, a state where 548,000 people live in poverty.
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But just over a year after she secured journalism’s top award for exposing how $77 million in federal welfare funds went to athletes, cronies and pet projects, she and her editor, Adam Ganucheau, are contemplating what to pack for an extended stay behind bars.
Sued for defamation by the state’s former governor — a top subject of their reporting — they have been hit with a court order requiring them to turn over internal files including the names of confidential sources.
“Breaching the confidentiality of sources violates one of the most sacred trusts — and breaks one of the most vital tools — in investigative journalism,” Ganucheau wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed.
Phil Bryant used his office to steer the spending of millions of federal welfare dollars — money intended to help the state’s poorest residents — to benefit his family and friends, including NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre,” Mississippi Today reported when the prize was announced.
A week later, White issued a public apology, saying: “I misspoke at a recent media conference regarding the accusations against former Governor Phil Bryant in the $77 million welfare scandal.
Quin has since incorporated more recent articles and is arguing that references to the Backchannel series amount to a “republication” that makes the entire body of work fair game.