Richmond City Council President Michelle Mosby says she never used an offensive term attributed to her in a closed council meeting, and so, will not apologize.
“Issue an apology to whom? It was a lie,” Mosby said on her way into City Hall Monday morning.
Mosby’s alleged use of the word "retarded" was first reported by WTVR-CBS 6 after a reporter obtained, through an open records request, an email exchange between council members Reva Trammell and Charles Samuels.
The word, once used as a medical term, is considered offensive by advocates for people with intellectual disabilities.
“I did not call Mr. Samuels or his actions that," Mosby says.
She continued: “What was reported to you all was a lie. I’m not, like I said to everyone else, discussing closed session. But that was a lie,” she says, before reiterating, “I said I am not discussing closed session. What I am saying is, what they reported outside of our closed session, was a lie.”
Mosby, who represents a portion of the South Side on city council, is the only major declared candidate in the city’s 2016 mayoral race. She announced her candidacy over the summer.
Samuels has since declined comment on the matter because it occurred in a closed session.
Trammell, reached by phone Monday morning, balked at Mosby's denial, saying, “She used the word."
