On his way out of the United States Senate, Mitt Romney gave one reporter unprecedented access to his emails, texts, and journals. McKay Coppins, author of Romney: A Reckoning, explains why.

This episode was produced by Jon Ehrens, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Hady Mawajdeh and Laura Bullard, engineered by Rob Byers and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices