Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre is the biggest star in the Mississippi welfare scheme in which he and other state officials, including the state’s former Department of Human Services Director John Davis and former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, are under investigation for funneling $77 million worth of welfare funds to their own personal projects—none of which had anything to do with where the funds needed to go. But now a former WWE wrestler also implicated in the scheme is dropping a bomb.
Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe, who has been breaking news about this story since it began, joined the latest episode of The New Abnormal podcast to explain how the scandal broke, how it has evolved, and also, a new twist.
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Former WWE wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. alleges that he witnessed one of the main officials in this case redirecting welfare funds away from a nonprofit that needed it, because “the nonprofit director was a supporter of the Democratic candidate for governor that year,” Wolfe explains to a mind-blown Andy Levy, co-host of the show.
“Now this story doesn’t have to do with Brett Favre, right? And so maybe it’s not gonna make the national airwaves, but that allegation is an allegation of a sitting governor directing how taxpayer funds will be spent in order to punish a political opponent. That’s a big deal,” she adds.
But don’t worry, Wolfe still shares on the show a whole lot more about Favre’s role in this, including how much of the money he’s paid back so far and how much more the feds think they’ll be able to get from him.
Plus! Andy and guest co-host Danielle Moodie, who also co-hosts the Democracy-ish podcast, hilariously unpack the last few days’ political news, including the “terrifying” and fascist woman who won Italy’s election and their joint hope that New York AG Letitia James will finally be able to “burst” Donald Trump’s billionaire bubble.
“It’s sort of a drip, drip, drip water torture kind of thing,” she jokes. “I feel like the one that is consistently being waterboarded by the Trumps, like drown me already.”
Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
