News site CEO apologizes to Mississippi ex-Gov. Bryant over welfare comments

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A news organization executive has apologized to former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant for remarks she made about him and the misspending of welfare money. Mississippi Today published the apology from its CEO, Mary Margaret White, on Wednesday, a week after Bryant threatened to sue the nonprofit news website. Bryant said White made a “false and defamatory” statement about him at a journalism conference. In White’s apology, she wrote that she had misspoken and that Bryant has not been charged with any crime. A spokesman for Bryant, Denton Gibbes, said Thursday that the former governor’s legal team was reviewing White’s statement and had not decided whether to sue.