The dustup over whether Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., apologized to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., after sending her an incendiary e-mail devolved into a thicket of reciprocal denunciations on Wednesday.
The back-and-forth began when West sent an e-mail to Wasserman Schultz on Tuesday after she all but said his name while making critical comments about the Medicare position of a "gentleman from Florida" after he had left the House floor.
"You are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives," West wrote in the e-mail, which also characterized Wasserman Schultz's comments on the floor as inciting a "personal fight."
On Wednesday, West told a reporter that he apologized—"I just apologized," he told the reporter—but an aide later said that the apology did not happen.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, five congresswomen denounced West for his comments and called on him to apologize to Wasserman Schultz.
"His words were nothing more than personal attacks," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. "It's incredibly disrespectful."
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