Updated at 5:48 p.m.: to make changes throughout, including tweet storm of support from Bonnen backers

AUSTIN -- Speaker Dennis Bonnen apologized Tuesday to his 149 House colleagues for “terrible things” he said about some of them, just hours after more details emerged about slurs uttered by him and chief GOP sidekick Rep. Dustin Burrows.

“It was a mistake,” Bonnen wrote of his and Burrows’ June meeting with longtime conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan, which Sullivan secretly recorded.

"I said terrible things that are embarrassing to the members, to the House, and to me personally," Bonnen said in an email obtained by The Dallas Morning News. "You know me well enough to know I say things with no filter."

Bonnen, whose hold on power has been rocked by Sullivan’s disclosure of the meeting in Bonnen’s Capitol office, stopped short of admitting he lied. He had denied providing a list and has called for the full release of Sullivan's recording.

Bonnen said he plans to meet individually in coming days and weeks with House members.

“I ask for your forgiveness, and I hope to rebuild your trust,” he wrote.

But at least one of 10 members Bonnen and Burrows allegedly tried to target in next year's Republican primaries was less than satisfied after hearing the recording.

Rep. Tan Parker of Flower Mound, who competed with Bonnen to become speaker before the last legislative session, called for the House GOP caucus, of which Burrows is chairman, to investigate.

"I find this reckless ambition to be absolutely disgusting," Parker said in a written statement.

While Bonnen in his apology said Sullivan “has worked hard to divide the House,” Sullivan quickly reminded House members of his allegation that Bonnen and Burrows enlisted his help in trying to defeat some of them -- a proposition he says he rebuffed.

“At what point will he apologize for lying to the public and his #Txlege colleagues?” Sullivan said of Bonnen in a tweet. “When will he apologize to me for putting me in the position of hearing his unethical proposal?”

Yet @RepDennisBonnen has apologized for none of that. At what point will he apologize for lying to the public and his #Txlege colleagues? When will he apologize to me for putting me in the position of hearing his unethical proposal? — Michael Quinn Sullivan (@MQSullivan) August 6, 2019

Instead, he wants his #TxLege colleagues to blame me for not being his willing victim. @RepDennisBonnen is the perpetrator and author of this #TxLege mess, and should be regarded as such. — Michael Quinn Sullivan (@MQSullivan) August 6, 2019

Late Tuesday, at least a half dozen House Republicans, including three from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said they accepted Bonnen's apology. Most have flourished under his speakership. All resorted to Twitter, using similar wording.

"Like me, & all of us, Dennis is imperfect," tweeted House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee Chairman Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican whom Bonnen elevated to important roles. "But this statement exhibits a refreshing humility that admits missteps & seeks to make rebuild the trust that has been broken."

Reps. Matt Shaheen, also of Plano, and Craig Goldman of Fort Worth, a close Bonnen ally, tweeted similar sentiments.

'humility', 'admits missteps', 'rebuild the trust'... No orchestration of responses going on here, is there? 🙄 Minions need to keep cribbing from each other's notes @leachfortexas , @DrewSpringer pic.twitter.com/lCvL4oo7fZ — Michael Openshaw (@mopenshaw) August 6, 2019

What was on the recording?

Bonnen's letter Tuesday afternoon came more than five hours after Direct Action Texas, a grassroots conservative group critical of state GOP leaders, provided new and damning details of Bonnen and Burrows' alleged targeting of incumbent House Republicans in a blog post.

On the Fort Worth-based group's website, Daniel Greer, a former colleague of Sullivan's, said he listened to the recording Sunday. He quoted Bonnen as saying Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, D-Richardson, was "awful" and fellow freshman Rep. Michelle Beckley, D-Carrollton, was "vile."

The speaker said Houston Democratic Rep. Jon Rosenthal makes his "skin crawl," Greer wrote, and Burrows derided fellow Republican Rep. Keith Bell of Forney as a "dumb freshman."

Rosenthal, in a joint statement with Bonnen issued late Tuesday, said though he was "shocked and disappointed" to hear what the speaker said about him, he accepted his apology.

Bonnen said he was "beyond humbled" Rosenthal would meet with him, "much less show the greatest level of class and integrity of anyone I've met."

"While I am not a deserving recipient of his kindness and concern, I am forever grateful and will not forget the lesson in character and sincerity he has taught me," Bonnen said.

While The News could not independently confirm the account, Nacogdoches GOP Rep. Travis Clardy, who was named among the 10 targets and has listened to the recording, told the newspaper that the new account was mostly in line with what he'd heard.

"Like other comments I've read from other people who've listened to the audio, the comments and quotes they recollect being said by Bonnen and Burrows once again are accurate and consistent with what I heard," Clardy said.

The controversy has gripped the state's Republican Party for nearly two weeks after Sullivan, a frequent critic of GOP leadership, claimed in late July that Bonnen and Burrows had improperly offered to give Sullivan's organization, Empower Texans, House media credentials in return for no further attacks -- and help in defeating 10 incumbent Republicans in next March's primary.

Parker said it was "very apparent" that Bonnen and Burrows "did engage in targeting," which he said violates the GOP caucus' bylaws and traditions.

Burrows, who has not commented on the allegations publicly, again did not respond to requests for comment.

Sullivan, whose organization has spent millions targeting sitting Republicans it deems insufficiently conservative, has dribbled out the contents of the recording slowly and -- for Bonnen and Burrows -- painfully. He has refused to let news outlets listen to the recording but has provided it to Republican lawmakers, party officials and conservative activists.

Reaction to the audio

As more people listen to the recording, more potentially embarrassing details are revealed to the public, fanning the flames of the controversy and keeping the story in the news.

In Tuesday’s post, Greer said Bonnen suggested that former Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican, “is working to have Democrats focus on taking out Republicans instead of engaging in primary battles” and cited a House district in Dallas County currently held by Republican Morgan Meyer.

Straus did not respond to a request for comment. His ally Clardy, though, said the allegation about Straus was the only thing that didn’t match his memory of the recording.

“They seemed to indicate he supported Democrats against Republicans somehow, and I do not believe that was true or what was stated,” Clardy said. “That may be their interpretation, but I don’t think that’s accurate.”

Greer also wrote that Bonnen demanded from Sullivan that no money from Empower Texans’ political action committee be used against him in the primary.

"I would prefer you to not hammer me every chance you get. But as long as you don’t spend against me, I’m good,” Bonnen said, according to Greer.

Bonnen, a 12-term Angleton Republican, is entrenched in his Houston-area district. Last year, he won his primary against a Sullivan-backed candidate, garnering 77 percent of the votes cast.

According to Greer, Bonnen told Sullivan he has recruited an opponent, presumably a Republican, for Democratic freshman Rep. James Talarico of Round Rock, a former teacher.

Asked to respond, Talarico said in a written statement: "I remember this type of drama from when I taught middle school. I was tired of it then and I'm tired of it now. Release the tape."

Beckley, whom Bonnen purportedly called “vile,” said she didn't know why she was singled out.

“I honestly don't know what's going on,” she said. “I went to my committees, I was there to work, I was there to represent my district. That's what I went down for.”

“I don't know what his dislike for me is and that he would feel the need to make those statements about me, Ana-Maria or Jon Rosenthal,” Beckley continued. “We didn't band or form any kind of coalition against him. We didn't do anything other than represent our convictions.”

Beckley said she was angry she was having to answer questions about Bonnen’s comments instead of discussing efforts to reduce gun violence following a shooting in El Paso over the weekend.

“He is a first-time speaker, first and only,” she said. “I don't think he'll be reelected. He caused this himself. He should know better.”

After Bonnen's apology, Beckley said she accepted it and called for a special session on gun violence.

"Let's just move on and get on with the issues," she said.

Ramos and Bell, who represents Kaufman and Henderson counties, did not respond to requests for comment about Burrows’ alleged disparagement of them.

The supposed list of targets that Bonnen and Burrows gave Sullivan includes Clardy, who also ran against Bonnen for speaker last year, Parker of Flower Mound, Steve Allison of San Antonio, Trent Ashby of Lufkin, Ernest Bailes of Shepherd, Drew Darby of San Angelo, Kyle Kacal and John Raney of College Station, Stan Lambert of Abilene and Phil Stephenson of Wharton.

Stephenson’s name “is mentioned several times throughout the recording,” wrote Greer, though he said he did not know the reason for the two leaders’ “animus” toward the four-term member.

On Tuesday, Stephenson did not respond to a request for comment.

More partial accounts of the June meeting are expected. Travis County GOP Chairman Matt Mackowiak said he expects to listen to the audio Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, Bonnen is expected to make his first public appearance since the Sullivan affair broke: He, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will travel to El Paso to meet with the El Paso legislative delegation and discuss Saturday's massacre.

Also that day, President Donald Trump is visiting El Paso, where he is expected to console survivors and relatives.

Here is the letter Bonnen sent to House members Tuesday:

"Dear Members,

I'm sorry. I was stupid to take a meeting with an individual who has worked hard to divide our House. It was a mistake.

I said terrible things that are embarrassing to the members, to the House, and to me personally. You know me well enough to know I say things with no filter. That's not an excuse for the hurtful things I said or the discussion that was had.

Once again, I call for the release of the entire unedited recording so the House is no longer held hostage, and we can begin to heal.

I have reached out to many of you, and I want to visit with all of you. I hope I have the chance to apologize to you personally.

I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart. I ask for your forgiveness, and I hope to rebuild your trust. -Dennis"