Pastor says he was paid by McDaniel camp

Mississippi pastor Stevie Fielder says he was paid by Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s (R) campaign to give an interview to a conservative blogger in which he said Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-Miss.) campaign had asked him to pay people to vote for Cochran.

{mosads}Fielder had told conservative blogger Charles Johnson that he had been asked by a Cochran staffer to pay black Democrats $15 to vote for Cochran in his hard-fought primary. He’s now under investigation.

Johnson has said he paid Fielder $2,000 for the interview and related texts and emails, and is now reportedly facing a subpoena from the state’s attorney general. But Fielder told Mississippi Public Broadcasting that it was McDaniel’s campaign spokesman, Noel Fritsch, who paid him.

Still, Fielder says he stands by his account. 

“At no point did I admit to him that McDaniel and them paid me to lie to bring all of this stuff up like it didn’t happen,” he told MPB. “It happened. I told the truth. Just the interview was paid, but not to lie to anyone. I was not paid to lie.”

McDaniel has refused to concede to Cochran following his 7,700-vote loss and has begun filing legal challenges to overturn the result.