Jessica Yellin
CNN National Political Correspondent

(CNN) – Nevada Tea Party candidate Scott Ashjian says he taped his meeting with Sharron Angle "for my own protection."

The recording of the meeting is at the center of a new controversy for Republican Senate nominee in Nevada who is in a heated contest with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Ashjian is a third party candidate trailing in the polls.

"I thought it was a set-up, so naturally I recorded it," Ashjian tells CNN adding "I recorded it because I realized every time I've had a meeting the truth gets distorted and the facts don't come out. It was never my intention to release the tape. I didn't do it till three days later when my friends said have you heard reports saying you're an egotistical whack job? So I said no problem here's the truth knock yourself out."

He gave the tape to his campaign manager to turn over to Jon Ralston, Las Vegas Sun political reporter and dean of the Nevada political press corps. The subsequent coverage highlighted Angle's pressuring of Ashjian to drop out of the race.

Full story on the CNN Political Ticker

Jessica Yellin is CNN's National Political Correspondent.

CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin is being honored Tuesday night for her distinctive reporting as a recipient of a prestigious Gracie Award for Outstanding Hard News Feature.

Yellin is being recognized for a series of stories she reported last year on "Political Women" looking closely at the role of women in politics and examining whether they are treated differently on the national scene versus men. Among the topics she examined: Whether there was a different standard being applied to former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the decision by Caroline Kennedy to pull out of consideration for an appointment to the U.S. Senate and the proportion of female cabinet appointees by the incoming Obama White House.

Among the others being recognized at the event in Beverly Hills, California are HLN's Robin Meade, NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, and ABC's Barbara Walters, as well as actresses Glenn Close, Drew Barrymore and Sharon Gless.

The Alliance of Women in Media sponsors the annual Gracie Awards, which recognize what it calls exemplary programming created for, by and about women in all aspects of the media, television, and radio, and ranging from news to drama to comedy to public service and documentaries and sports.