It seems as if the contest between outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and her likely congressional replacement, GOP nominee Harriet Hageman, is not quite over.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this week, Hageman was asked if she had received a concession phone call from Cheney following her loss.
Hageman told Hannity that she got a voicemail from Cheney that only said, “Hello, Harriet” — adding that the call did not contain “any kind of a concession.”
WATCH:
Hageman: There wasn’t a phone call… She called and left a very brief two second message.. All she said was hello Harriet.. She didn’t call and discuss any kind of concession.. pic.twitter.com/rlYiYaG2pS
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 18, 2022
After Hageman’s remarks, the Cheney campaign hurriedly sent an audio recording of Cheney’s phone call to a Politico reporter, Olivia Beavers, who then posted it to her Twitter page under an “EXCLUSIVE” banner.
The recording begins with Hageman’s voicemail greeting before Cheney is heard saying: “Hi Harriet. Liz Cheney calling. It’s about 8:13 on Tuesday the 16th. I’m calling to concede the election and to congratulate you on the win. Thanks. Bye, bye.”
“The audio contradicts the narrative Hageman gave on Hannity tonight that she “didn’t address any kind of concession or anything else,” Beavers noted in her post.
EXCLUSIVE: I’ve obtained audio from the Cheney campaign of the concession voicemail Rep. Liz Cheney’s left for Harriet Hageman last night.
The audio contradicts the narrative Hageman gave on Hannity tonight that she “didn’t address any kind of concession or anything else.” https://t.co/SZTxyyEmTn pic.twitter.com/LodE9YVVIW
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) August 18, 2022
“NEW: Rep. Liz Cheney tells me her concession call to Harriet Hageman ended up being a ‘clear and direct’ voicemail that she left before she went on stage last night, after trying multiple times to get in touch w/ her. Cheney says she still has not heard anything back,” Beavers added in another Twitter post.
NEW: Rep. Liz Cheney tells me her concession call to Harriet Hageman ended up being a "clear and direct" voicemail that she left before she went on stage last night, after trying multiple times to get in touch w/ her.
Cheney says she still has not heard anything back.
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) August 17, 2022
Needless to say, Cheney supporters leaped to her defense, including noted anti-Trump commentator Stephen Hayes.
“It’s such a small thing but it says so much. The lying is inveterate. It’s habitual. Say anything at all — true or untrue — so long as it wins you MAGApplause. And there will be zero price paid for having been caught in such an embarrassing lie,” he wrote.
It's such a small thing but it says so much.
The lying is inveterate. It's habitual. Say anything at all — true or untrue — so long as it wins you MAGApplause.
And there will be zero price paid for having been caught in such an embarrassing lie. https://t.co/tsLMhdazNK
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) August 18, 2022
But not long afterward, Hageman’s campaign released a recording of the voicemail that was left on her phone, which was “Hi, Harriet…” followed by silence.
Beavers was left to speculate that “technical/cell service issues” may have been to blame for the differences in recordings, and some of those who piled on Hageman — like Hayes — were forced to apologize for leaping to conclusions.
It's such a small thing but it says so much.
The lying is inveterate. It's habitual. Say anything at all — true or untrue — so long as it wins you MAGApplause.
And there will be zero price paid for having been caught in such an embarrassing lie. https://t.co/tsLMhdazNK
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) August 18, 2022
“I tweeted last night accusing Harriet Hageman of lying about the voicemail concession left for her by Liz Cheney. I was wrong. This video from @Olivia_Beavers suggests tech issues may have caused the problem. My apologies,” he wrote.
Others took Beavers to task, including The Federalist’s senior editor Mollie Hemingway.
“This is why you should never take ‘Acyn”s transcripts at face value. What Hageman said was that there was only a brief voicemail and that Cheney ‘didn’t call *and discuss with me* any kind of concession or anything else.’ This audio CONFIRMS rather than CONTRADICTS that,” Hemingway wrote.
EXCLUSIVE: I’ve obtained audio from the Cheney campaign of the concession voicemail Rep. Liz Cheney’s left for Harriet Hageman last night.
The audio contradicts the narrative Hageman gave on Hannity tonight that she “didn’t address any kind of concession or anything else.” https://t.co/SZTxyyEmTn pic.twitter.com/LodE9YVVIW
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) August 18, 2022
Some have also speculated that it’s possible Cheney recorded her message after the fact — and that the message that Hageman received was really all that Cheney sent. It’s not known at this time which version is correct.
Cheney was blasted again this week regarding her concession speech for comparing herself to the most iconic of all GOP figures.
During a segment on Fox News’ “The Five,” the table discussed Cheney’s loss to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman and her delusional concession speech, where she compared herself to Abraham Lincoln and teased a 2024 presidential run, which led to scathing criticism from co-host Greg Gutfeld.
“She compared this to the Civil War. She is nuts, ok? She is overtaken with such obsession and such emotional bitterness that she has this kind of grandiose view of herself and it’s actually now getting embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for her. I wish she had a friend that could take her aside and say, ‘You’ve got to calm down.’ Don’t run for office, you’re not going to get a national office,” Gutfeld began.
“At best, you’re going to get Office Depot. Republicans hate you, the Democrats don’t want you, this all driven by some emotional brokenness that happened from Trump. She goes all the way back to the Civil War — of course, she didn’t mention the Iraq War or the Afghanistan War, because that cuts a little too close to home. Or to dad. And then she compares herself to Abe Lincoln. People say that Trump has an ego, but when he says stuff like that, it’s usually with a wink and then everybody’s laughing,” he added.
Technical issue. Everybody calm down. Neither woman had much to gain by lying. Cheney lost, concession or no concession. Both recordings started with “Hi Harriet”, so it’s perfectly plausible that the rest of the comment was lost. Modern software often malfunctions, and people are often too embarrassed to admit they couldn’t get it to work.