People on Anthony Weiner’s campaign are frustrated these days. Perhaps understandably so, given the endless onslaught of embarrassment. But all the same, one imagines that publicly calling a former intern a “slutbag” and worse is not part of the official rebound strategy. The torrent of swears came from communications director Barbara Morgan, a one-time spokeswoman for the Department of Education in New Jersey, who Weiner previously described as a “rock star.” After Tuesday’s meltdown that seems like an apt description in a way, but probably not the way he meant it. According to Talking Points Memo’s Hunter Walker, when he called her on an unrelated topic she went off on a rant about Olivia Nuzzi, a former campaign intern who wrote unflatteringly about life on the trail for the New York Daily News on Monday. Said rant was very NSFW.
The choice quotes, excerpted:
- “I’m dealing with like stupid fucking interns who make it on to the cover of the Daily News even though they signed NDAs and/or they proceeded to trash me.”
- “Fucking slutbag. Nice fucking glamour shot on the cover of the Daily News. Man, see if you ever get a job in this town again,” said Morgan.
- “It’s all bullshit,” she said. “I mean, it’s such bullshit. She could fucking — fucking twat.”
- “You know what? Fuck you, you little cunt. I’m not joking, I am going to sue her.”
Morgan’s meltdown does not sound like that of someone who realized she was on the record. And indeed, she told Politicker’s Jill Colvin she believed her rant was private. She expanded to Buzzfeed’s Ruby Cramer, who shared via Twitter:
As for Nuzzi, she doesn’t seem to be taking the threats too seriously. Her new Twitter bio reads “Slutbag, twat and cunt. Writer for NSFWCORP.”
Update, 11:34 p.m.: TPM editor and publisher Josh Marshall writes via e-mail: “The conversation was definitely on the record. And I can tell you with certainty that the phrase ‘between us’ was never spoken during the entirety of the conversation.”
