After House Republican reversed themselves on gutting the Congressional ethics office following a storm of public protest and even a critical tweet from Donald Trump, Congressman Goodlatte– whose introduced the proposal– issued the following statement:

“The House must have a rules package under which to operate and serve our constituents, and ultimately accepting the amendment from Majority Leader McCarthy was the only way to ensure passage. While I understand the need to do so, I am wholly disappointed that these important reforms to strengthen due process rights and the mission of the OCE did not move forward. Gross misrepresentation by opponents of my amendment, and the media willing to go along with this agenda, resulted in a flurry of misconceptions and unfounded claims about the true purpose of this amendment. To be perfectly clear, the OCE has a serious and important role in the House, and my amendment would have done nothing to impede their work or lessen the high ethical standards to which all Members of Congress should be held. I look forward to passing a House Rules package this afternoon and getting down to the important business the American people elected us to perform.”

So no apology from Goodlatte for his effort to gut an independent watchdog on Congressional ethics and make it harder to expose wrongdoing by lawmakers. He doesn’t think he did anything wrong. Or perhaps he believes his position in Congress is so secure that it doesn’t matter what he does or says.

Finally it wasn’t so much Trump’s tweet that caused the Republicans to reverse course but thousands of angry constituents.