KEY POINTS:
Don Brash this week published a five-page rebuttal of accusations made by Nicky Hager in The Hollow Men.
He claims there are "literally dozens of factual errors", not all of which he has responded to. But these are his responses to key allegations.
1. Hager said the information and emails in the book came from six disaffected National supporters.
Brash says while he's sure he has six political enemies, he doesn't have six with access to the emails used. "The information Hager uses was stolen, of that I have no doubt."
2. Hager said Brash knew about the Exclusive Brethren plans to distribute $1 million worth of anti-Government and Green Party pamphlets by at least late May last year (as he was sent an email detailing the plan and Hager had proof he had acknowledged receiving it), even though he assured the public he found out only in August.
Brash says he can't deny the email existed but has "no recollection of seeing that email, or of the opening of that attachment". To the best of his knowledge the Brethren did not contribute to National's campaign.
3. Hager claims Brash had several meetings, deliberately kept secret, with American "neo-conservatives" especially on defence matters, including Ronald Reagan's first security adviser, the ultra-right-wing Richard Allen.
Brash says he met Allen in a Queenstown coffee shop [so it wasn't secret], that while Allen arranged several meetings for him in the US, they weren't with "far-right" figures but Republicans and Democrats.
Allen denies being a "neo-con", Brash says, adding there was no neo-con influence on National policy.
4. Hager says Brash misled the public when he said he didn't have "the faintest idea" where donations came from and was heavily engaged in fundraising.
Brash "suspects" some listed donors in the book gave money, but "I don't know for sure who contributed".
He never collected cheques and "without almost no exception I never knew what individual donors may or may not have contributed".
