JACKSON, Miss.—Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant’s defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Today over its welfare scandal coverage could be revived after several Mississippi Supreme Court justices questioned a lower court’s dismissal and suggested a jury should consider the case.
Bryant has accused the nonprofit publication and members of its staff of defaming him including, he alleges, by saying he “steered” millions in welfare funds to sports celebrities and other illegal uses. He also sued its former CEO for saying he “embezzled” welfare funds while speaking at a journalism forum in 2023. Neither state nor federal prosecutors have accused Bryant of a crime in the welfare case.
Lee Crain, an attorney from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, who is representing Mississippi Today, argued at the Mississippi Supreme Court on Wednesday that Bryant admitted in a 2022 interview with Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe that “it doesn’t look good.” He was referring to some of the text messages she had obtained between him and key figures in the welfare scandal.
“I think the governor has conceded away anything that could establish falsity, anything that could establish actual malice. There’s no reason to even get out of the gate,” the attorney said.
Crain also argued that former Mississippi Today CEO Mary Margaret White’s remark saying that Bryant “embezzled” welfare funds was “in the context of a media forum, unscripted, lighthearted.” White is now Mississippi Today’s senior director of development and partnerships.
Chief Justice Michael Randolph repeatedly pushed back. “Wouldn’t what you’re saying today to us be appropriately brought in front of a jury?” he said.
Justice Josiah Coleman also seemed to suggest the case should be heard in front of a jury. It would be a victory for Bryant if a majority of the court agrees that the case should go before a jury. The justices who heard the case must determine whether to uphold Madison County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Mills’ decision to dismiss Bryant’s lawsuit against Mississippi Today and three employees or to send the case back before a trial court.
Bryant’s attorney, William M. Quin II of McCraney Montagnet Quin & Noble PLLC, urged the court to allow the lawsuit to continue on Wednesday. He said he could prove “actual malice,” which public figures must demonstrate in order to prove defamation in Mississippi, was at play.
“Where sensationalism is sought at the expense of the truth, actual malice can be inferred,” Quin said.
Crain argued that Mississippi Today and its staff were not guilty of actual malice, including because they did not believe anything they reported was false. The reporting, he said, was “extensively researched,” and the staff believed it was accurate, he added.
Mills dismissed Bryant’s lawsuit in April 2025 under Mississippi Rule of Procedure 12(b)(6), which allows a case to be dismissed for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” He wrote only that he made the decision “For the reasons set forth in the briefs submitted by Defendants.” Mississippi Today’s lawyers had argued that Bryant’s lawsuit did not meet the standard for a public official to bring a defamation claim.
On Wednesday, Justice Kenny Griffis said he was concerned that the trial court may have erred in its use of the procedural mechanism the judge used to dismiss the case.
The six members of the Mississippi Supreme Court who heard the case could uphold Mills’ dismissal or send it back to the circuit for further proceedings, including discovery.
Lawsuit Cites Reports on Stock Offer
The former Mississippi governor first filed his lawsuit against Mississippi Today’s parent company, Deep South Today, and then-Mississippi Today CEO Mary Margaret White in 2023. Bryant alleged that the online news publication defamed him when its CEO said he “embezzled” funds and when the site published articles saying he “squandered” and “steered” $77 million in welfare funds “to benefit his family and friends, including NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre.” Investigators have not accused Favre nor Phil Bryant of crimes in any of the ongoing welfare scandal cases, though Favre is a defendant in the state’s civil lawsuit to recoup the welfare money.
Bryant’s lawsuit expanded in 2024 to include reporting by Anna Wolfe, a Mississippi Today reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting on the welfare scandal, and then-Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau (who is now the executive editor and content officer of Deep South Today, which runs several newsrooms across the South from New Orleans).
After Bryant first threatened a lawsuit in 2023, citing White’s claim at a public, web-streamed forum that he had “embezzled” $77 million in welfare funds, White said she “misspoke at a recent media conference regarding the accusations against former Governor Phil Bryant in the $77 million welfare scandal.” White apologized in a public note on Mississippi Today’s website without specifying which remark she was apologizing for. The publication has not retracted any of its reporting.
In its report on the Supreme Court hearing yesterday, Mississippi Today reported that “Bryant’s lawsuit didn’t challenge the accuracy of Wolfe’s reporting because he didn’t file the lawsuit within the specific statutory timeframe needed to file such a claim.” It is true that the statute of limitations for challenging Wolfe’s 2022 “Backchannel” reports had expired by the time the former governor first filed his lawsuit in 2023, but he has since challenged newer reporting by Wolfe as part of the lawsuit.
In 2024, Bryant amended his complaint to include a 2023 story in which Wolfe reported that Brett Favre and his business partner, Jake VanLandingham, once sought Bryant’s help getting investment funds to help Prevacus—a pharmaceutical company promising to produce concussion drugs. Wolfe’s story said that “Favre suggested they ask the then-Mississippi governor for help and offer him stock in the company” in 2018 and “Bryant bit.”
Prevacus would later become embroiled in the welfare scandal after it received millions in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds that the since-indicted former Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis agreed to give the company, along with indicted nonprofit operator Nancy New. Both New and Davis have since pleaded guilty to crimes, but neither has served time nor paid back stolen TANF funds.
Bryant, who appointed Davis in 2016, has denied knowing that welfare funds went to Prevacus or numerous other illicit projects, including a volleyball stadium at Favre’s alma mater.
Text messages show that VanLandingham did say he and Favre “can offer stock” in a 2018 text in which he also mentioned meeting a group of investors “with your help” in Jackson. Bryant did not acknowledge the stock offer, the texts show, telling the men to “just let me know and we will call a team meeting at the Governors Mansion.”
There is no evidence that Bryant ever accepted a stock offer, though he did connect VanLandingham and Favre with potential investors, as well as former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and even the White House under President Donald Trump.
In December 2019, VanLandingham again asked Bryant, “Governor can we bring you on with ownership now?”
“Cannot till January 15th,” replied the Republican governor, who would be leaving office on Jan. 14, 2020, to make way for his successor, Tate Reeves. “But would love to talk then. This is the type of thing I love to be a part of. Something that saves lives…”
Bryant and VanLandingham made plans to meet in February 2020, with VanLandingham saying he would like to give the then-unemployed ex-governor “a company package,” but that meeting never happened; prosecutors broke the news of the welfare scandal as they announced the arrests of Davis, New and others on Feb. 5, 2020. Prosecutors described “a sprawling conspiracy” that included “a fraud scheme to take TANF funds to pay for personal investments in medical device companies (Prevacus, Inc., and PreSolMD, LLC) in Florida.”
“Is this your company mentioned in the second paragraph?” Bryant wrote in a text message to VanLandingham the next day, attaching a screenshot from a news article.
VanLandingham told Bryant that the Florida-based companies mentioned were indeed his. “Yes, I got subpoenaed and just gave them everything. I was clueless,” the Prevacus founder wrote in the text.
“Not good…,” Bryant replied.
“I cannot be involved in any way until I know this investigation clears the company of any wrongdoing,” Bryant wrote. “You may want to talk to an attorney.”
VanLandingham insisted that he “had know (sic) idea about any of this,” but that he had “cooperated fully and obviously I’m not a co-conspirator in this mess whatever it is.”
“I was unaware your company had ever received any TANF funds,” Bryant wrote in another text message to VanLandingham on Feb. 10, 2020. “If some received anything of benefit personally then Legal Issues certainly exist. I can have no further contact with your company. It is unfortunate to find ourselves at this point. I was hoping we could have somehow helped those who suffer from Brain Injuries. This has put that hope on the sidelines.”
“I too was unaware of TANF fund issue,” the Florida businessman replied. “Hopefully this gets cleared up soon. We are well on our way to helping those with brain injuries.”
VanLandingham pleaded guilty to one charge of wire fraud for improperly using welfare funds in federal court in 2024.
Although Favre is a defendant alongside VanLandingham in the State’s civil lawsuit to claw back misspent welfare funds, prosecutors have neither accused nor charged him with a crime.
Davis, who accepted a plea agreement in 2022, had a penchant for seeking to gratify male sports celebrities. He testified last month in the trial of Ted DiBiase Jr., another sports celebrity tied up in the welfare scandal, where texts show Davis confessed to the retired WWE wrestler that he “tried to buy all your love” while directing millions in welfare funds to DiBiase’s companies.
Bryant Attorney Highlights Volleyball Lease
Phil Bryant’s attorney, William Quin, said during court on Wednesday that Mary Margaret White, former Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau and reporter Anna Wolfe “made their accusations, not because they were true, but because they knew they could use them to fundraise.”
The attorney alleged that Mississippi Today may have been “distracting the public” from learning about Adam Ganucheau’s mother’s role in approving a lease for a new volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi.
That volleyball stadium was a project favored by Brett Favre, who sought help in 2017 from then-Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis and nonprofit operator Nancy New. The Southern Miss athletic director introduced Favre to New in 2017, and New facilitated conversations between him and Davis.
The legendary football player wanted a volleyball stadium built at his alma mater, where his daughter was attending and a member of the volleyball team, and later pushed for a beach volleyball court as his daughter switched to the beach volleyball team. Davis and New directed millions in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to the volleyball projects under the auspices of constructing a wellness center for Hattiesburg’s at-risk community.
Favre has denied that he had sought the volleyball projects for his daughter’s benefit.
Though Favre repeatedly sent text messages to Bryant asking for help with the volleyball funding, none of the hundreds of text messages shows the former governor ever suggesting the use of welfare funds or directing their use (though they do mention potential private fundraising for the projects).
Other text messages revealed in civil court as part of a state lawsuit to recoup misspent welfare funds show that Bryant started expressing concerns about projects Davis, Favre and New were working on in mid-2019, following the MDHS tip. In one text conversation about a volleyball project at Favre’s alma mater that New and Davis had directed welfare funds toward, Favre pressed Bryant for help to ensure the project would be fully funded.
Adam Ganucheau’s mother, Stephanie Ganucheau, was a special assistant to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood at the time. In a 2020 story, Mississippi Today quoted a letter pointing out that a “lease agreement (for use of the volleyball facility) was reviewed by a Special Assistant to the Attorney General and recommended by the Attorney General’s Office for approval by the Board of Trustees,” but did not name the special assistant. Y’all Politics (now Magnolia Tribune) later reported in 2022 that Stephanie Ganucheau was the special assistant mentioned who had approved the lease, though she has not faced any allegations of wrongdoing.
“Stephanie twice recommended that the board approve the $5-million prepaid lease between Nancy New’s organization, MCEC and the USM Athletic Foundation, despite knowing the lease was financed by MDHS funds,” Quin told the Mississippi Supreme Court justices on Wednesday. “Anna Wolfe and Adam knew as early as September 2020 that Stephanie had approved the project, but they concealed her identity and role from the public for more than two-and-a-half years.”
After the Mississippi Free Press asked Adam Ganucheau for comment after Y’all Politics’ report, he wrote in a September 2022 note at Mississippi Today that he only learned about his mother’s role on Sept. 21, 2022, when Y’all Politics’ editor contacted him for comment.
“That political actors are willing to leverage the bureaucratic role my own mother played in state government to try to discredit Mississippi Today’s reporting is notable,” he wrote. “But it should not distract readers from the real story: Powerful Mississippians appear to have used the state government system to steer millions away from our neediest residents into their own pockets and the pockets of their wealthy friends.”
‘The Sacred Right of the Free Press’
Attorney Quin argued on Wednesday that Mississippi Today had accused Bryant “of committing multiple felonies while in office … that would be the most serious committed by an elected official in Mississippi history” so that the publication could “raise $25 million over the course of a four-year media frenzy.”
Mississippi Today is a nonprofit newsroom that relies on fundraising for its operations. Former NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack launched the newsroom in 2016 with a public reception where Bryant was among the invited guests who attended. Today, Lack is the executive chairman of the board of directors of Deep South Today.
At the Mississippi Supreme Court on Wednesday, Quin sought to make the case that a jury should consider the facts in the case and determine whether or not Phil Bryant’s defamation claims are true.
“Wolfe repeatedly stated that Bryant agreed to accept stock, but her claim is based on text exchanges that do not reflect such an agreement,” Quin said. “A jury could find that these exaggerations, along with other evidence, proves actual malice.”
Quin noted that in addition to state investigators, “the FBI and Justice Department had investigated the welfare fraud scandal and not accused Bryant of these things.” Those investigations happened both during the first Trump administration and during the Biden administration. Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, a Democrat, led the state-level investigation.
“A jury could determine that the notion that Governor Bryant personally embezzled, misspent, or approved the misspending of $77 million of welfare funds, including the direction of millions to the USM volleyball stadium project, without being prosecuted by a Democratic district attorney, and federal prosecutor serving in a Democratic administration, is so inherently improbable that only a reckless person would believe it,” Quin said.
When Mississippi Today’s attorney, Lee Crain, came before the justices, he argued that while the former governor’s complaint mentions the term “malice” by name, the facts do not bear it out.
Crain praised Wolfe’s “Backchannel” reporting series and said that Bryant’s lawsuit is “exactly” the “type of case that we have to defend against” to protect “the sacred right of the free press.”
“Your Honor, the reporting in this case, I respectfully submit, reflects the very best of American journalism. It was deeply researched over many years, (and) relied on numerous sources, including the governor’s own words,” Crain said.
“They gave Gov. Bryant ample opportunity to be heard,” he continued. “The reporting was also a public good. It shed light on what everyone believes is a broken system, what the state auditor called a ‘crucial investigation of wrongdoing,’ and it ultimately will adhere to the benefit of Mississippi’s most vulnerable—the folks for whom the welfare funds were supposed to have gone to.”
The Mississippi Supreme Court will likely not make a decision in the case for several months. If the justices do side with Bryant and revive the case, it would return to the circuit court for further proceedings, including discovery.
Read our TANF welfare scandal reporting dating back to February 2020 here.