Conservative Super PAC (Briefly) Suggests Alcohol Involved In Commerce Secretary Incident
ABC News' Michael Falcone reports:
UPDATED In a tweet sent Monday morning from the account of the Republican-aligned super PAC, American Crossroads, the group raised the possibility that alcohol was involved in the suspected felony hit and run incident involving U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson over the weekend.
@AmericanXRoads: How does @CommerceSec have 3 car crashes in 5 minutes and alcohol NOT be involved? ?#Skills
The tweet was posted at 8:02 a.m., but the group deleted it less than two hours later - at about the same time the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the secretary suffered a seizure while behind the wheel.
By 10:00 a.m. the group had deleted two other tweets related to the incident and posted this one:
@AmericanXRoads: Earlier Bryson tweet with hashtag #skills attempted levity (before facts known) and failed miserably. We took it down and regret the tweet.
Bryson hit two cars three times, and was found unconscious behind the wheel of his Lexus this weekend in Southern California, but according to initial reports available early Monday, authorities said the incident did not appear to be alcohol-related.
"They have ruled out alcohol and drugs at this time and also information was given that he suffers from a pre-existing medical condition," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Pope told ABC News Radio.
Jennifer Friedman, a spokeswoman for the Commerce Dept., said in a statement that Secretary Bryson "suffered a seizure" while driving in the Pasadena area on Saturday.
"He was taken to the hospital for examination and remained overnight for observation. He was released and has returned to Washington," Friedman said. "The investigation is ongoing."
Founded by Karl Rove, American Crossroads, has said it will spend up to $300 million during the 2012 election cycle against President Obama and on Congressional races - much of it on television advertising.
Two other tweets related to the Bryson incident were expunged from group's twitter feed on Monday. They were apparently meant to be tongue-in-cheek references to the hit-and-run and President Obama's recent remarks about the economy.
@AmericanXRoads: @BarackObama response to @CommerceSec news: "Wait, John Bryson is my Commerce Secretary? Who knew. Sure he's #DoingFine.
@AmericanXRoads: Breaking: John Bryson cited for reckless endangerment of the economy and failure to yield to common sense, but he's #DoingFine #TCOT