(JTA) — A spokesman for Herman Cain’s campaign said the Republican presidential hopeful was joking when he said he had offered former secretary of state Henry Kissinger his old job back.
"Dr. Kissinger turned my offer down to be secretary of state. He said he’s perfectly happy doing what he’s doing," Cain said in a video interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The statement garnered widespread online press coverage when it came to light Tuesday.
Later Tuesday, Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post’s The Fix blog, reported that Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon said the candidate had never made such an offer. The Fix blog’s Twitter account later said a spokesman claimed Cain was joking.
Cain has called Kissinger one of his top foreign policy influences. Earlier this month, Cain had breakfast and a private foreign policy briefing in New York with Kissinger, according to ABC News.
Kissinger served as secretary of state in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
