A day after Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.) admitted to reporters that she skipped an Armed Services Committee hearing for a fundraiser, she confirmed to the Associated Press that it was in fact the classified hearing on "current and future worldwide threats" and that she was in New York City instead.
Hagan's campaign confirmed Wednesday the hearing occurred Feb. 27. The Armed Services Committee held a closed hearing that afternoon on "current and future worldwide threats" to national security. Hagan's campaign scheduled a cocktail reception at a New York apartment that evening.
Her campaign hasn't denied she missed more committee meetings, but she has described herself as a vigilant senator who in part has chaired three subcommittee meetings that addressed the threat of "al-Qaida in Iraq and Syria," a previous name for the group that now calls itself the Islamic State.
The Washington Free Beacon reported last month that on the night of the afternoon hearing there was a fundraiser scheduled for the senator at an apartment on New York City's Upper East Side. Hagan's office refused to comment on Hagan's attendance at either event.
The host of the fundraiser when contacted was also mum on Hagan's attendance, saying that she was "not at liberty" to discuss who was at the fundraiser.
The Hagan campaign offered Politifact detailed excuses for her absence at various other Armed Services Committee hearings, but not the one on Feb. 27. Politifact concluded last week that her attendance at the 2:30 p.m. classified hearing remained unclear, because "they didn’t tell us."
Even Hagan's confession that she missed the hearing was an attempt to be vague.
"There was one and what had happened at that hearing, it was scheduled early in the day, and then votes were scheduled, and that hearing then had to be postponed later that day, so yes, I did miss that one," said Hagan, when asked about the committee hearing following her Tuesday debate.
The truth is now out, and Republican opponent Thom Tillis is immediately pouncing on it, using the new revelation as the central theme of his fundraising campaign.
Republicans are pouncing on Hagan missing the classified hearing, and say that they don't think her excuse is helping her.
"Kay Hagan had a long-winded explanation for why she didn’t go to the hearing, but apparently no remorse," said Rob Lockwood, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. "From her own explanation it sounds like if she could—she would absolutely choose the fundraiser again."