House Speaker Pelosi Denies Sending Words of Comfort to Ted Haggard

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office has issued a statement denying Ted Haggard's claim that she sent him messages of support and comfort after he was enveloped in a sex-and-drugs scandal. Here's the statement from Pelosi press secretary Drew Hammill:

"The Speaker and Ted Haggard never met and they never spoke.  The Speaker has never talked to her daughter, Alexandra, about Mr. Haggard.  This account is simply not true. 

"Many Americans have been inspired by Speaker Pelosi's story as the historic first woman Speaker of the House." 

Alexandra Pelosi followed up on the Speaker's denial with a phone call in which she said that Haggard had misconstrued their conversations about her mother. But she declined to say that Haggard is lying:

I can't speak for Ted. My mother never told me to tell Ted anything. I think that Ted is implying that he got inspiration from conversations we had. I'm not saying he's flat-out lying... I never delivered any messages.

Perhaps I said that my mother said, "God is bigger than this" because it's something she often says. In other words, she's saying "Don't worry about it." That's why I'm not going to say that Ted's delusional, because it's a line she uses. But I never delivered any messages from the Speaker to Ted and my mother never intentionally delivered messages to Ted Haggard. Perhaps he was inspired by things she said. Lots of people are...I quote my mother and perhaps he was inspired by the quotes.

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