The diversion of funds from the poor was mainly done through government sanctioned processes, whether they were state agencies or private nonprofits. In many cases, the permission was given and the process took place in broad daylight. Phil Bryant was the head of this system. Bryant said that he would take responsibility for the system during a three-hour interview with Mississippi Today on April 2. “Yeah. I was the governor. It would have been so much easier for me to catch it. “The moment I realized it, I called the state auditor.” State and federal investigators as well as prosecutors have not publicly examined Bryant’s role since he was arrested in 2020. This is evident in written communications they’ve had for over two years. Former Bryant campaign manager and state auditor who was later appointed auditor by the former governor said that he believed the welfare director had a duty to reject improper requests from Bryant, not the governor’s obligation to review agency spending regulations. Mississippi Today reviewed thousands of pages worth of text messages that were gathered by law enforcement officers during their investigation. These communications were shared with our news agency. They were sent between key players and only for a limited time period. We also reviewed thousands upon thousands of documents and emails from agency personnel that we received via more than 80 open records requests. Mississippi Today conducted numerous interviews and analyzed the records. The trove of documents together reveals how Bryant was able to influence funding decisions for his eager-to please welfare director. This document also shows how far Bryant went to help his friend, retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre. He was responsible for more than $8,000,000 in unjust welfare payments.