Reporter fires back at RNC after meltdown over 'sloppy hit piece'

A Bulwark reporter is publicly sparring with the Republican National Committee – and he’s taken the fight online after his story on RNC Chair Joe Gruters’ dire midterm enraged GOP operatives.

Journalist Andrew Egger reported that Gruters privately predicted a “pending, looming disaster” for Republicans next year, adding that the party faces “almost certain defeat.”

“It’s not a secret, there’s no sugarcoating it," Gruters told Egger, while predicting an “absolute disaster” for his party.

But within hours of the story posting, the RNC launched a swift pushback, with GOP national press secretary Kiersten Pels blasting The Bulwark – and Egger – in comments to the Washington Reporter.

“The Bulwark is actively laundering DNC talking points and calling it news,” Pels told the publication Friday. “They did not reach out for comment and instead manipulated a transcript to remove the line: ‘I like our chances in the midterms’ in order to orchestrate this sloppy hit piece against Chairman Gruters.”

She went on to dismiss the outlet as “nothing more than a bunch of shameless hacks pretending to be journalists,” and added that it was “laundering false smears on behalf of the DNC by deliberately lying about Chairman Joe Gruters’ remarks.”

Gruters joined the pile-on, calling the report “absolutely fake news” and insisting the Republicans will “defy history” in 2026 because of President Donald Trump and the “America First movement.”

Eggers quickly responded – and just as forcefully. In a series of posts on X, he defended his reporting as “factual,” and noted that the author of the Washington Reporter story had already scrubbed a false claim suggesting The Bulwark was tied to a partisan funding group.

“My write-up this morning was factual,” Egger wrote. “Which alas is more than I can say about this piece.”

He continued to mock the RNC’s communications operation for relying on a “failed GOP congressional candidate turned literal court reporter to faithfully reproduce multiple paragraphs of their kvetching about ‘DNC talking points,’ calling the episode “almost too wonderful to believe.”