Cuccinelli on DC bar attack: 'Pathetic' O'Malley was 'out of control'

'Veins [were] bulging out of his neck'

Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli fired back after former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley ripped into him for carrying out President Trump’s immigration policies. Cuccinelli told FOX Business that O’Malley was “out of control” and veins were “bulging out of his neck.”

Cuccinelli said he was attending an alumni event at The Dubliner, an Irish pub on Capitol Hill, where he and O’Malley met and he was confronted and harassed, but he wasn’t forced to leave.

“First of all, I did not leave the pub -- I went and got my beer, I stayed right there,” Cuccinelli told Ashley Webster.

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Cuccinelli said the incident began when he was trying to order a Guinness.

“[I] started hearing like screaming and cussing behind me and didn't think much of it off the bat and then turned to look and see what was going on,” he said.  “And there was the former governor of Maryland, veins bulging out of his neck, screaming and cussing at me and the president and whatever else he could think of.”

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Cuccinelli said he just “sort of shook my head” and headed over to another bar. They traded some barbs. But things got so heated, he said, at one point that O’Malley got in his face.

“He had some other comments that got right in my face, like literally inches from my nose, bumping up on me and invited me to take a swing at him,” said Cuccinelli, adding that he was tempted to take a swipe, but it was never a “serious“ thought.

Cuccinelli continued, “and that point, I literally said to Martin, one of us is going to have to rise above this and it's obviously not going to be you.”

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Cuccinelli said a friend “poked” his head in between them to de-escalate or to the separate O’Malley from his “fit.”

“I think it’s sad and pathetic,” said Cuccinelli.

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O’Malley did not respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.