More details emerged Wednesday from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s (R) testy response to a reporter who asked her about climate change last week. Among the details was that the governor reportedly hit the reporter with her closed fist after he asked her the question.
A local photographer who was present at the now-viral Q&A told media blogger Jim Romenesko about details that weren’t originally broadcast on Phoenix television. He said Brewer “held a crude smile and just stared” at KTVK’s Dennis Welch for several seconds after he asked her whether she believed global warming was man made. (She eventually responded that she did not.)
The photographer described the exchange as “funny and kinda surreal”:
After her answer, a handler swooped in and whisked her away, but about three paces out she turned back around to face the reporter who asked the last question. He had turned to a camera operator and seemed to be putting his microphone away. Brewer took her left hand, balled it into a fist and with the back of her hand she slugged the reporter on the back of his right arm. Not hard, but with enough force that he spun around to see what was going on.
