As Twitchy reported earlier, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte apparently made it back to the United States Wednesday after a judge in Brazil had ordered that he and James Feigen stay put while authorities looked into their claim that they had been robbed at gunpoint. The order to seize his passport was as good as a starting pistol as far as Lochte was concerned.
Ryan Lochte leaving Brazil ?? pic.twitter.com/YgdH1Jhy5o
— LTMA (@ltma) August 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/joshgreenman/status/766094144498503681
Surprisingly, the U.S. seems to have a full-blown international incident on its hands, as swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, whose passports had not been ordered seized, were nabbed at the airport before they could take off.
It’s not even known at this point if Lochte and crew were lying about being robbed or not. Is Brazil just trying to save face, or is the evidence there to suggest something fishy was going on with the swim team?
For his part, Lochte spoke with NBC’s Matt Lauer Wednesday night and changed some of the details of his story.
Matt Lauer on NBC says Ryan Lochte changed his story in call today. No longer says gun was put to his head, nor that they were pulled over
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) August 18, 2016
Lauer: Lochte now says they were ambushed after using gas stn restroom when cab driver refused to drive, gun was "pointed in his direction"
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) August 18, 2016
Um …
NBC talking about how Lochte's alleged robbery tarnished the reputation of Rio. Apparently, they're unaware of the reputation of Rio.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) August 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/SuzyKhimm/status/766096030844669952
https://twitter.com/SuzyKhimm/status/766099155441717248
https://twitter.com/SuzyKhimm/status/766100285164892160
I am from Brazil and I believe Ryan. I was robbed in the bus. Drivers are working with robbers.
— Rachel Maga (@RachelMaga_) August 18, 2016
Fox News host Greta Van Susteren wants some senators on the phone, now.
Note to #Brazil : let our swimmers come home
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) August 18, 2016
I have no idea if they did but a Brazilian judge seems to think so. Either way, hard to opine without knowing the facts.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 18, 2016
they should be free to go… not sure what is the point the local police is trying to make…
— Alex Toussaint (@alextoussaint) August 18, 2016
just an example of how bad Brazil is at crisis PR. Just made things a lot worse.
— Rupert (@rupertbe) August 18, 2016
The swimmers' senators should be calling #Brazil Embassy right now to let our swimmers come home
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) August 18, 2016
Secretary Kerry needs to be on the phone to #Brazil and Pres Obama, too
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) August 18, 2016
President Obama is taking this vacation pretty seriously and hasn’t had a lot to say about anything; no way is he getting involved. So … Secretary of State Kerry?
congrats to brazil for the hundreds of millions of dollars they're about to receive from obama admin https://t.co/F47zFOBQjK
— Nino (@baldingschemer) August 18, 2016
Ok fine, give Brazil Lochte and trade him for the other two swimmers. https://t.co/ig94MTyCv7
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/showard67/status/766105853300645888
Time for some gunboat diplomacy. https://t.co/6AvTtNXmaF
— Jimmy (@JimmyPrinceton) August 18, 2016
Trump would have already ordered special forces in to rescue Conger and Bentz.
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 18, 2016
I don’t understand this Rio swimmer story. What could they be accused of?
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) August 18, 2016
Read my story tomorrow. Basically, reporting a crime that didn’t happen. = wasted police time = a crime
— Will Carless (@willcarless) August 18, 2016
it's a bit more serious than a mischief charge in US – false report of a crime, basically. Is leading contender
— Stephanie Nolen (@snolen) August 18, 2016
But why would they possibly make that up? https://t.co/SY2xunhl1d
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) August 18, 2016
Is it a false report if you're so blitzed you really thought it happened?
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 18, 2016
Lochtegate is the only interesting thing left about the Olympics
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) August 18, 2016
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