Here's one take on who the "people back east" meant.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/01/24/michael-patrick-leahy-sources-the-jeff-dewit-message-came-from-the-nrsc-aka-mitch-mcconnell/
Michael Patrick Leahy appears on Steve Bannon War Romm discussing, in part, the Jeff DeWit message to Kari Lake and who from “back east” was the originator of the message to bribe Mrs Lake to stay out of the Arizona senate race.
As expected, the sources for MPL’s report outline that Mitch McConnell and the National Republican Senatorial Committee originated the proposal. This should not be a surprise to anyone who reads CTH. The NRSC is primarily funded by the biggest lobbying group, the U.S Chamber of Commerce. The USCoC fund the legislative priorities of the Senate and Mitch McConnell does their bidding. In essence the bribe money would come from the USCoC into the NRSC.
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I'm just posting information which doesn't necessarily mean I agree with it.