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🗞️ Story file #98

Ken Paxton admits campaign is controlled by Washington in leaked audio

Oct 5, 1 PM ET to Oct 6, 6 PM ET · 1 outlet not rated for lean

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

  1. Oct 5, 1 PM ETfirst on a front page: The Bulwark
  2. Oct 5, 4 PM ETpeak: on 16 front pages
  3. Oct 5, 4 PM ETfirst on TV: MSNOW

📰 Spread

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Oct 5, 6 PMOct 66 AM12 PM6 PM816leftcenterrightnot rated
Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 5, 1 PM to Oct 6, 6 PM ET (peak 16), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right · not rated
Oct 512 PMOct 612 PMNews NationNews NationNews Nation, Oct 4, 12:00 PM ET: Talarico leads Paxton by 2 points in tightening Texas Senate raceYahoo NewsYahoo NewsYahoo News, Oct 4, 11:00 PM ET: Why Ken Paxton could lose a Texas GOP Senate seat to James TalaricoRaw StoryRaw StoryRaw Story, Oct 5, 7:10 AM ET: Secret recording captures Ken Paxton's whine on who's pulling campaign's stringsThe Washington SunThe Washington SunThe Washington Sun, Oct 5, 11:00 AM ET: Ken Paxton Blames D.C. for His Campaign Messaging in a Leaked RecordingThe New RepublicThe New RepublicThe New Republic, Oct 5, 11:00 AM ET: Ken Paxton Admits Team Trump Controls His Campaign in Leaked AudioNewsmaxNewsmaxNewsmax, Oct 5, 12:00 PM ET: Ken Paxton: Little Control Over Texas Senate CampaignForbesForbesForbes, Oct 5, 12:00 PM ET: New Ken Paxton Leaked Audio Says Washington Runs His Campaign: ‘I Don’t Control Messaging’Rolling StoneRolling StoneRolling Stone, Oct 5, 12:00 PM ET: Ken Paxton Makes Excuses for Floundering Campaign in New Leaked AudioHuffPostHuffPostHuffPost, Oct 5, 12:00 PM ET: Ken Paxton Privately Admits His Campaign Is Being Run By Washington: PoliticoThe GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, Oct 5, 1:00 PM ET: Republican Ken Paxton admits forces in DC control his Texas Senate campaignNewsweekNewsweekNewsweek, Oct 5, 1:00 PM ET: Ken Paxton Says DC Controls His Texas Senate Campaign in Leaked AudioThe BulwarkThe BulwarkThe Bulwark, Oct 5, 1:00 PM ET: Sam Stein LEAKED AUDIO: Ken Paxton Says D.C. Is Running His Campaign | MAGA Mondays A recording from The Bulwark’s live videoThe Bulwark, Oct 5, 1:00 PM ET: LEAKED AUDIO: Ken Paxton Says D.C. Is Running His Campaign | MAGA MondaysNew York PostNew York PostNew York Post, Oct 5, 1:00 PM ET: Ken Paxton rages against his own campaign in leaked audio: ‘It’s all coming from DC’Fox NewsFox NewsFox News, Oct 5, 2:00 PM ET: Paxton frustrated over lack of control in Senate campaign, leaked audio showsJust the NewsJust the NewsJust the News, Oct 5, 4:00 PM ET: Paxton raised $18M in 3rd quarter in tight Texas Senate race but Talarico still ahead in fundraisingThe HillThe HillThe Hill, Oct 5, 4:00 PM ET: Paxton raises $18M in third quarter📺 TVCNN, 11:08 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 11:09 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 11:09 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 11:10 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 12:02 AM ET: TEXAS JAMES TALARICO D 51% KEN PAXTON RCNN, 1:06 AM ET: TEXAS JAMES TALARICO D 51% KEN PAXTON RCNN, 2:23 AM ET: NEW AD FEATURES PAXTON'S ESTRANGED WIFE BACKING. HIS CANDIDACY WITHOUT MENTIONING HIM BY NAMECNN, 4:23 AM ET: NEW AD FEATURES PAXTON'S ESTRANGED WIFE BACKING. HIS CANDIDACY WITHOUT MENTIONING HIM BY NAMEMSNOW, 5:01 AM ET: WHO IS CONTROLLING PAXTON'S CAMPAIGNMSNOW, 5:10 AM ET: PAXTON CLAIMS DC IS CONTROLLING HIS U.S. SENATEFox News, 7:05 AM ET: TRUMP WILL CAMPAIGN WITH KEN PAXTON IN TEXASFox News, 10:36 AM ET: OSBORNE ADDRESSES AUDIO LEAK SLAMMING TRUMP VOTERSMSNOW, 4:49 PM ET: PAXTON TRIES TO SHIFT BLAME AS TEXAS SENATE RACE HEATS UPMSNOW, 4:52 PM ET: PAXTON TRIES TO SHIFT BLAME AS TEXAS SENATE RACE HEATS UPMSNOW, 6:02 PM ET: LEAK: GOP’S PAXTON SEEMS TO KNOCK TRUMPMSNOW, 6:03 PM ET: LEAK: GOP’S PAXTON SEEMS TO KNOCK TRUMPMSNOW, 6:08 PM ET: GOP’S PAXTON IN LEAKED AUDIO, AICNN, 6:49 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 6:49 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 6:49 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 6:49 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 6:50 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 6:50 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIOCNN, 6:51 PM ET: POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIO
Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

💬 quoted: “I Don't Control Messaging” “It's all coming from DC”

🗣️ only one side says: 🫏 paxton admits

✏️ 1 outlet ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)
  • The Bulwark (2 wordings): “Sam Stein LEAKED AUDIO: Ken Paxton Says D.C. Is Running His Campaign | MAGA Mondays A recording from The Bulwark’s live video” → “LEAKED AUDIO: Ken Paxton Says D.C. Is Running His Campaign | MAGA Mondays”
Every outlet's first headline (16), left to right by AllSides rating

📡 Broadcast

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

📺 On TV

CNN10 min
MSNOW3 min
Fox News34 s
  • POLITICO: PAXTON SAYS WASHINGTON RUNS HIS CAMPAIGN IN LEAKED AUDIO CNN, 8 min
  • LEAK: GOP’S PAXTON SEEMS TO KNOCK TRUMP MSNOW, 2 min
  • NEW AD FEATURES PAXTON'S ESTRANGED WIFE BACKING. HIS CANDIDACY WITHOUT MENTIONING HIM BY NAME CNN, 59 s
  • TEXAS JAMES TALARICO D 51% KEN PAXTON R CNN, 54 s
  • PAXTON CLAIMS DC IS CONTROLLING HIS U.S. SENATE MSNOW, 29 s
  • TRUMP WILL CAMPAIGN WITH KEN PAXTON IN TEXAS Fox News, 25 s
  • WHO IS CONTROLLING PAXTON'S CAMPAIGN MSNOW, 24 s
  • GOP’S PAXTON IN LEAKED AUDIO, AI MSNOW, 24 s

🎙️ Shows, investigators, satire

🎙️ 📨 Erick Erickson 🎙️ Politico Playbook

🧶 Retelling

what people online made of it

🦗 Nobody's retelling it online yet, as far as the daily reports of the last week can tell.

🗣️ names in it: Ken Paxton Washington Texas PolitiCo James Talarico

🔎 Checking

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

🧵 Persistence

the running story it belongs to

🧵 Ken Paxton Senate Campaign Controversy

  1. Angela Paxton endorses Texas GOP ticket

    Oct 4, 6 PM ET

  2. Ken Paxton admits campaign is controlled by Washington in leaked audio (this story)

    Oct 5, 1 PM ET

Rebuilt every hour from the front pages of the outlets we follow.
Lean ratings: AllSides (CC BY-NC 4.0) · reliability: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Everything else (mood, spin, feelings, framing) is our own reading of the headlines.