A Reuters journalist struck a deal to shelve a scoop that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke once belonged to a notorious hacker collective "until after his Senate race against Ted Cruz in November 2018."

On Friday morning, the day after O'Rourke announced his bid for the White House in 2020, Reuters' Joseph Menn finally dropped his scoop revealing that O'Rourke belonged to the "Cult of the Dead Cow" (CDC) hacker group as a teenager, where it was revealed that he went under the handle "Psychedelic Warlord."

YOUNGER DAYS: Beto O’Rourke, left, in a photo of his band, Foss. Texas Republicans also tweeted out what appears to be a police mug shot of the Texas Democrat. Handout via Texas GOP Twitter

In a "backstory" article late Friday, Menn explained that he struck a deal with the CDC to withhold O'Rourke's involvement in the group "until after the November election" in 2018 - after which the group would confirm O'Rourke's involvement, a secret they had kept for decades.

"While I was looking into the Cult of the Dead Cow, I found out that they had a member who was sitting in Congress, said Menn. "They wouldn’t confirm that it was this person unless I promised that I wouldn’t write about it until after the November election."

Except O'Rourke admitted he was in CDC before the 2018 election.

“I met Beto O’Rourke. I said ‘I’m writing a book about Cult of the Dead Cow, I think it’s really interesting. I know you were in this group. This book is going to publish after November and your Senate race is over. And he said, ‘OK.’ “And he told me about his time in the Cult of the Dead Cow.” -Reuters

Defending the decision not to run the story, Menn tweeted on Saturday: "I offered @BetoORourke an embargo because it was for a book I was on leave to write, not for my day job, and because no one else who knew would confirm the facts before the election."

Menn added "I had zero sources" - seemingly in direct conflict with his Friday admission that O'Rourke himself told him about his time in CDC before the election.

Not confirm what someone else said, confirm my guess. I had zero sources. — Joseph Menn (@josephmenn) March 17, 2019

Buff my balls

Once Reuters revealed that O'Rourke went under the handle "Psychedelic Warlord," several creepy writings emerged that had written. In one, O'Rourke fantasized about murdering children with a car.

In another - a poem called "THE SONG OF THE COW," O'Rourke worships a ball-buffing, butt-shining, ass-waxing cow that provides "milky wonder," which the Daily Caller paid someone to perform.

Enjoy: