"Now, I don't give a f*** of you believe me or not. Your the one who screwed her. You're the one who bragged about it," reads a text message received by South Carolina blogger Will Folks from a top aide for South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley.
This is just one of a number of texts that Folks released on his website Wednesday, all of which appear to paint a narrative of a larger attempt to prevent or control the release of allegations that Folks and Haley had an affair -- a claim that Haley has repeatedly denied.
Haley's campaign told Politico Wednesday that the text messages provided by Folks were proof that the blogger's "overactive imagination has gone into overdrive."
Another message to Folks from Haley aide Tim Pearson, who has confirmed to CNN that the text messages are authentic, reads: "I'm telling you man, we keep this under wraps and nh is going to win."
The set of nearly 100 messages covers a span of 10 days between May 13 to May 22 during the period before Folks decided to post to his blog the claim that he had had an "inappropriate physical relationship" with Nikki Haley. The running dialogue includes worried messages between Folks, Pearson, an AP reporter supposedly following a lead on the story, and another GOP operative who apparently had knowledge of some aspect of the rumor.
None of the text messages, however, provide any concrete proof that there was actually an affair between Folks and Haley. But the blog post from Wednesday claims that "Nikki will play a more prominent role in future updates," following prior indications that Folks has documentation of direct interactions between himself and Haley.