On the eve of Thanksgiving both Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley had gathered at a bar in DC to meet with fellow graduates of Gonzaga College High School. But it all turned ridiculous when O’Malley started shouting and cursing like a jackass at Cuccinelli over Trump’s immigration policies, forcing Cuccinelli to leave. Cuccinelli explained what happened to Fox News:
In a lengthy statement to Fox News, Cuccinelli recalled Wednesday night’s incident, which took place at The Dubliner — an Irish pub on Capitol Hill where he and O’Malley were attending an event with fellow graduates of Gonzaga College High School before O’Malley’s “shame-invoking tirade” forced Cuccinelli to leave.
“I arrived at The Dubliner to meet with some of my Gonzaga classmates last night, Cuccinelli said in the statement. “As I walked up to one of the bars among several in The Dubliner to order my Guinness, I heard screaming and cussing behind me to my left, which I did not immediately take notice of other than the fact that it was louder than everything else in the pub.”
Cuccinelli continued: “When I turned to look I saw O’Malley and he was obviously screaming at me. For a moment I thought he was trying to be funny, as we’ve met before, which I thought was strange. It was immediately clear that he was cursing and screaming for real, to the point of veins bulging on his neck.”
Cuccinelli moved to a different area of the pub but O’Malley followed him, even trying to get Cucinelli to take a swing at him:
Cuccinelli added that O’Malley had “also inspired one or two of his (apparent) buddies to join in the cussing assault,” which the Trump official said he attempted to ignore. Cuccinelli said he proceeded to attempt to order at a different bar within The Dubliner, but that O’Malley followed him.
“[A]t which point O’Malley pushed his way through the small group to confront me face to face, still cursing me, the President, and my Italian ancestry and he got right up in my face, bumped up against me and invited me to take a swing at him,” Cuccinelli recalled, adding, “at which point I said ‘Martin, one of us has to rise above this, and it’s obviously not going to be you.’”
O’Malley was even blaming Cuccinelli for policies that were created by Obama:
Cuccinelli noted that some of O’Malley’s comments about Trump’s immigration policy were “odd” due to the fact that “they applied to President Obama’s policies, a fact he clearly did not appreciate me pointing out (without screaming it, btw).”
Cuccinelli said, on a “positive” note, he saw a friend, who happens to be a Democrat, and, in what he said appeared to be “an attempt at de-escalation,” that friend approached the two and “forced some friendly conversation in between Martin and I.”
Cuccinelli said he engaged in a short conversation and walked away to a separate area of the bar to see several other Gonzaga graduates and “high school buddies who happened to be there.”
“Martin’s behavior was as sad as it was shocking,” Cuccinelli said. “I learned on the other side of the pub that Martin’s screaming was so loud that people on the other side of the pub heard him. I also learned from others who have known Martin for years that while his behavior was shocking, it was not new to them.”
O’Malley is clearly a jerk, turning a friendly gathering into a political shouting attack on Cuccinelli. And I think we can infer, just from what happened the other day, that O’Malley was probably a bully in grade school as well.
I’m glad Cuccinelli was smart and took the high road. No need to risk his career in a fight with a toolbag like O’Malley.