Yes, his response should be taken as gospel since he was surprised by the sexual assault charge.
Who.you crappin?
For someone who believes the process should be allowed to play out for TSJ, I guess not so much so for Whitman. Eh ?
If Whitman was aware only of a report of a sexual assault allegation but not either of the charges filed in early Dec, what should Whitman have done ?
Waiting for information would be prudent.
I get the impression that it's possible that Whitman was not aware of the rape allegation and the possibility always exists that the assault allegation may not result in a charge.
If it takes close to 4 months from the alleged incident for Whitman to learn of a felony charge that he was not privy to, I'm not surprised that there was no prepared statement.
Whether or not this was the scenario, I'm not sure anyone other than a few individuals would know.