It was the liquor talking, apparently.

Two officials from an anti-immigrant political party in Australia said on Tuesday that an undercover recording of them explaining the political influence that money from the American gun lobby could potentially buy was not what it seemed.

Their comments, they said, were just small talk made over rounds of scotch.

In the recording, James Ashby, the chief of staff for Pauline Hanson, leader of the One Nation party, is heard to say that his right-wing party could “own” the Australian Senate and House of Representatives with a $20 million donation from the American gun lobby.

The recording — by a reporter for Al Jazeera — was made in the United States during a trip last year, just weeks before an Australian law banning foreign political donations took effect.