CHICAGO _ Former U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk griped at a Washington, D.C., inauguration party Thursday that he was never invited on Air Force One by President Barack Obama because he is a "white Republican."
Turns out, he was invited, according to his own spokesman.
Kirk's spokesman, Kevin Artl, said last year that Kirk was "asked to accompany Obama on Air Force One, but he declined because of Senate votes," according to a Feb, 10. 2016, report in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Asked following Kirk's latest unfortunate racial outburst whether he stood by that 2016 account, Artl, who has not represented Kirk since Kirk, a Republican from Highland Park, was replaced by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, wrote in an email: "That was all in a past life," declining to comment further.
Kirk's last years in office were marked by a series of strange comments, including remarks he made at a debate with Duckworth about her ancestry, which he later apologized for. His comments that U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham was a "bro with no ho" also raised eyebrows.
The Obama Foundation did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
