Oklahoma county leaders caught discussing killing reporters and lynching

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Last Updated on July 29, 2023 9:22 AM CDT

Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma called for the resignation of several top officials in McCurtain County after they were recorded making hateful and violent comments about local reporters and expressing a desire to hang Black people with a rope. McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, county Commissioner Mark Jennings, sheriff’s investigator Alicia Manning, and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix were asked to step down after the McCurtain County Gazette-News published an article over the weekend about what was captured on the recording. Bruce Willingham, who works for his family-owned newspaper, turned the full audio over to the FBI and Oklahoma Attorney General’s office, according to his attorney. Willingham acted on a tip that the commissioners were illegally engaging in county business after public meetings were over, so on Mar. 6 he left a recording device in the commissioners’ chamber. Earlier that day, Willingham’s son, Christopher Lee Willingham, who is a reporter at the newspaper filed a lawsuit against Clardy, Manning and the commissioners claiming they were punishing him for hard-hitting reporting by slandering him. When Willingham retrieved the recording device, he discovered the conversation began with a conversation about a fire victim being compared to “barbecue” before the group began talking about his son. The governor has ordered an investigation to determine if any illegal conduct has occurred, and county residents have protested outside the county commissioners’ headquarters. The sheriff’s office claims that the recording was illegally obtained and may have been altered, and is investigating how it was obtained.