4 years ago
A Vietnam vet who interviewed U.S. Senate candidate Jim Webb for a newspaper article in 1983 says the Democrat told him of college pranks he took part in 20 years earlier in which racial epithets were used and guns pointed at African Americans on the streets of Watts.
Dan Cragg, who later worked with Webb at the Pentagon during the Reagan Administration, says Webb?s account is missing both from the tape recording and transcript of his interview with the rising star among Vietnam veterans. Cragg says he doesn?t remember if he erased that part of the tape or failed to record that part of the interview.
Jim Webb campaign spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd called Cragg?s account ?a lie.? She added "the Allen campaign, in their desperation, has chosen to find someone to manufacture a lie."
Cragg says he decided to go public with his recollection of Webb?s comments concerning ROTC pranks he says he took part in while a freshman at the University of Southern California in 1963, after seeing George Allen defend himself against racism charges earlier this week. According to Cragg, when Webb did not publicly repudiate the allegations against Allen, he decided to "level the playing field."
Cragg said he discussed his decision to go public with representatives of Sen. Allen?s campaign, but is doing so of his own volition. He says he was ?devastated? by Webb?s decision to switch from the Republican to the Democratic Party.
Written By Gary Reals9NEWS NOW
