Michigan state Rep. Todd Courser (R) planned to release a fake story claiming that he was caught having sex with a male prostitute in order to cover up his relationship with fellow state Rep. Cindy Gamrat (R), according to audio recordings released by The Detroit News Friday.

Courser was apparently caught on tape discussing the plan in a series of recordings made by a House aide.

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“Courser secretly removed from Caucus several weeks ago due to male on male paid for sex behind a prominent Lansing nightclub,” an email announcing the fake story would have stated. “He is a bisexual, porn-addicted sexual deviant.”

Courser said on one recording that the fake story was designed to make any subsequent reports look like “a complete smear campaign” against him. He also commented that the story needed to “make anything else that comes out after that — that isn’t a video — mundane, tame by comparison.”

“I need to, if possible, inoculate the herd against gutter politics that are coming,” he said.

The now-former House aide who recorded the conversations has been identified as Ben Graham, who was fired by Courser in early July.

Courser declined to comment to The Detroit News earlier this week, but did confirm that it was his voice when one of the recordings was played.

“I’m not commenting on what happened in my office between Ben [Graham] and I inside here,” Courser told The Detroit News Monday. “I don’t have any comment at all.”

Courser also disputed the legality of the recording.

Courser and Gamrat both rose to political prominence as Tea Party activists who took on the Republican establishment to win their seats in the state House last year.

Courser, married with four children, represents Michigan’s 82nd district. Gamrat, married with three children, represents Michigan’s 80th district.