The syndicator for a white nationalist radio program is threatening to release emails proving Donald Trump's campaign is lying about having “nothing to do with” Donald Trump Jr. fielding questions from a white nationalist during an interview.  

James Edwards is the host of the Liberty News Radio-syndicated The Political Cesspool, which describes itself as representing "a philosophy that is pro-White" and states that it has supported “pro-Confederate” causes against “black malcontents.” 

The Trump campaign gave Edwards and his Political Cesspool radio program press credentials for its February 27 rally in Memphis, TN. Edwards then wrote on his website that an upcoming show “will feature a previously taped 20-minute interview with Donald Trump, Jr.” 

Edwards' credentials and interview claim set off a media controversy and forced the Trump campaign to run for cover. The Trump campaign initially claimed on March 2:

“Donald Trump Jr. was not in attendance and although he served as a surrogate for his father on several radio programs over the past week, to his knowledge and that of the campaign, did not participate in an interview with this individual.”

However, during the morning of March 1, Trump Jr. appeared on Liberty Roundtable with host Sam Bushman, with Edwards appearing as a guest and questioner. Bushman is Edwards' syndicator and friend, and he guest-hosted The Political Cesspool on February 27 while Edwards reported from the rally.

Following the interview with Trump Jr. on that March 1 program, Edwards said the connection came about because “a press agency that's scheduling interviews for” Trump Jr. and brother Eric Trump reached out to Edwards to schedule an interview. Because of availability problems, the Liberty Roundtable hosted the interview instead of The Political Cesspool.

After it was revealed that Trump Jr. talked to Edwards, the Trump campaign professed complete ignorance of him:

Trump Jr. said Wednesday that he was speaking to another radio host for a previously scheduled interview via telephone when, unbeknownst to him, Edwards chimed in with questions. “He was brought into the interview without my knowledge,” the 38-year-old executive vice president for the Trump Organization said in an interview with Bloomberg Politics. “Had I known, I would have obviously never done an interview with him.”

Bushman is now claiming the Trump campaign is lying about their interactions and is threatening to release “emails” proving it.

On his March 3 show, Bushman claimed that in his email reply to Trump's booking agency, he wrote “this is Sam Bushman, I own Liberty News Radio, that's the nationally syndicated radio network, James has a show on my network called The Political Cesspool, he went to your rally, was credentialed at your rally, you reached out to James with your email, and I'm responding back and saying that James can't do the interview because he has a weekend show, but I would love to do the interview.”

Bushman then added: “The Trump campaign reached out through their booking agency, though. Remember that fact. The Trump campaign reached out to James to do a radio interview via their booking agency.”

Bushman says he responded to the agency making clear they wanted to do the interview and cc'd Edwards.

He continued, “I called James and said 'James, do you want to be on with us?' And the reason I did is because this all came through James. It was James' media credentials that they had approved. James was the one that attended the rally. They were the ones that reached out -- meaning the Trump campaign through their booking agency -- and absolutely invited James to do the interview.” 

Bushman claimed “people are kind of hinting” they don't want him to re-air the interview, and he said he would “drag out every email” about the interview if the Trump campaign doesn't stop the “lies”:

BUSHMAN: The interview was incredible; we talked about all kinds of good things. In fact, we're going to play the interview back so you can hear it. OK, people are kind of hinting they don't want us to play it back. I don't take directions very well from these thugs. I don't appreciate their lies and abuse and manipulation and game playing. OK, so I'm just going to tell you the story straight and if they want to debate it, we'll take that sucker on CNN and drag out every email and every little tidbit and tit-for-tat and this whole thing, because we will slaughter them, including the Trump campaign if they don't stop. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not taking on the Trump campaign. I'm just telling you that we're not going to tolerate lies and game playing.

In a subsequent segment, Bushman said, “Trump Jr. is backing away big time, and he shouldn't be.” He continued that “the bottom line, though, is the Trump campaign is now saying, 'Well, we never reached out to James Edwards.' Well that's true, ladies and gentlemen, factually, but it's intellectually dishonest. Factually, their booking agency reached out to James. And they're now trying to say, 'Well, that booking agency didn't really do what they were supposed to.' OK, well now we can debate that: They were on hire from the Trump campaign.”

“The idea that they had nothing to do with it and didn't reach out to James is a lie,” said Bushman.

“We can prove it, don't play games with me. We have the emails. We can prove it. And we've even sent the emails to the campaign headquarters and so they know the truth. But they don't want to tell the truth.”