The fake email affair has roared back into life today and threatens more grief for Malcolm Turnbull. In a series of developments:

  • The Australian’s Paul Maley presented an exclusive bombshell interview with Godwin Grech in which the Treasury official admitted faking the email at the centre of claims of impropriety by the Treasurer and Prime Minister and claims he was “pressured” by the Opposition.
  • The Auditor-General’s report into the Government’s administration of the OzCar affair is due to be released later today, after the Government leaking that the report will clear the Treasurer and Prime Minister.
  • The ABC’s Australian Story last night showed chaotic scenes from Malcolm Turnbull’s office on the day the email was revealed as a fake by the Australian Federal Police, with shocked staff scrambling to work out how to respond.
  • Claims have emerged that Malcolm Turnbull’s office tried to seek assistance from another guest at the Parliamentary Midwinter Ball to vouch for Turnbull’s claim that he did not threaten Prime Ministerial staffer Andrew Charlton. Crikey understands that the woman concerned is a Woolworths executive.