NEW ORLEANS (AP) — U.S. Sen. David Vitter didn’t pose a security threat when the Louisiana Republican set off a security alarm at Washington Dulles International Airport earlier this month, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.
A statement issued by TSA said Vitter triggered a door alarm but didn’t enter a restricted area of the airport. A TSA spokesman said the agency has closed its review of the incident, but he wouldn’t elaborate on the statement.
Vitter has said he was rushing to catch a flight home when he accidentally went through a wrong door at the gate leading to the jetway for the United Airlines plane he was trying to board.
Vitter’s office wouldn’t immediately comment on TSA’s announcement Tuesday.
A Roll Call newspaper report based on an anonymous tipster says Vitter had a heated exchange with an airline worker and then left the scene when the worker left to call security. Vitter said the report mischaracterized his conversation with the employee.
“I did have a conversation with an airline employee, but it was certainly not like this silly gossip column made it out to be,” Vitter said in his March 12 statement.—-Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]