MLB donated to Hyde-Smith's campaign as favor to McConnell: report

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Hyde-Smith under fire for 'public hanging' comments

Comments made by Hyde-Smith have resulted in multiple companies withdrawing support; Steve Doocy reacts.

Major League Baseball has wrapped itself into a political controversy after requesting Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s campaign to return thousands in donations stemming from her “public hanging” comments.

The donation to Hyde-Smith’s campaign came after a lobbyist who works for MLB couldn’t attend a mid-November fundraiser for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Yahoo Sports reported Monday, citing sources. The league was reportedly asked to donate to Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., instead.

MLB donated to her campaign on Nov. 12 or 13, sources told Yahoo Sports, which would pinpoint the donation to a day or more after she made the hanging remarks. Her campaign reported the $5,000 contribution Nov. 24, according to campaign filings.

A request for comment from Sens. Hyde-Smith and McConnell by Fox News weren’t immediately returned.

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Hyde-Smith, who was appointed in April to fill retired Republican Sen. Thad Cochran's seat, was recorded during a campaign stop saying that if a supporter invited her to a "public hanging," she would be in "the front row.” The Mississippi lawmaker has since said her comment was made in jest and denied any racial connotation.

Her denial, however, has done little to quiet the outrage. The comment has become a major talking point in the lead-up to the state’s special election on Nov. 27, where Hyde-Smith faces Democrat challenger Mike Espy – a former secretary of agriculture and congressman who in 1986 became the first African-American to represent Mississippi at the federal level since Reconstruction – in one of the closest senatorial races in the state in recent memory.

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Major League Baseball asked that Hyde-Smith return the organization’s $5,000 donation over the weekend.

“The contribution was made in connection with an event that MLB lobbyists were asked to attend,” an MLB spokesperson told USA Today Sports. “MLB has requested that the contribution be returned.”

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.