Cleaver Story Changing: Emanuel Cleaver Hit with Spit or Not?

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) has been in the news for being spat upon during the Tea Party protests outside the Capitol on the day of the health care vote. In an interview this week, FOX4News asked Cleaver if he is claiming that he was deliberately spit upon. Cleaver would not answer the question, and said he just wanted to put the incident behind him. See the video below.

Emanuel Cleaver

"All I'm saying is we all have to diffuse it, and I think it is not in my best interest or in the best interest of this nation to stoke it," said Rep. Cleaver. "I've avoided doing and I will continue to do it."

Umm hmmm.

This FOX4 report quotes Cleaver claiming that he "never...reported a single thing...."

"I haven't talked about this incident on TV or anywhere, and I've been approached to talk about it on every national TV show," said Rep. Cleaver in an interview with FOX 4 News. "I never, I never reported anything, never a single thing in Washington, not one thing. People assume I went somewhere, never done press conference, never done an interview on it and I'm not going to do it."

But as Weasel Zippers points out, Cleaver absolutely did claim to have been hit with spit. This is the statement released by Cleaver's office:

This afternoon, the Congressman was walking into the Capitol to vote, when one protester spat on him. The Congressman would like to thank the US Capitol Police officer who quickly escorted the others Members and him into the Capitol, and defused the tense situation with professionalism and care. After all the Members were safe, a full report was taken and the matter was handled by the US Capitol Police. The man who spat on the Congressman was arrested, but the Congressman has chosen not to press charges. He has left the matter with the Capitol Police.

Cleaver says if the "spraying" (not spitting) had not been caught on tape, no one would have known about it, but really, it took several days to discover the video that caught the incident, and the whole world already knew about it because every Democrat, as well as Cleaver's office, was talking about it, and cursing Tea Partiers at the same time - and don't we know, someone had to tell his staff all about it to release their official statement.




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