The White House says the reported incident of a Republican leader telling President Barack Obama, "I cannot even stand to look at you," didn't actually happen.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin reported on Facebook over the weekend that an unnamed lawmaker had leveled the rude remark during government shutdown/debt ceiling talks, but the White House backtracked on Thursday.
"What I can tell you is that there was a miscommunication when the White House read out that meeting to Senate Democrats, and we regret the misunderstanding," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Thursday.
He said the quote attributed to the lawmaker "was not accurate," and happened when the White House told Senate Democrats about a meeting Obama had with House Republicans.
Durbin updated his Facebook page, writing, "I appreciate this clarification from the White House that explains recent conflicting reports on the GOP quote. It is important now to move beyond the unfortunate events of the last few weeks and work together constructively so that we're not faced with another shutdown or debt ceiling debacle."