Manchin also issued a statement, which reads:
"If these outrageous reports have any merit ? and
especially if a United States Senator has done
anything inappropriate or unethical to interfere
with a decision that the Big 12 had already made ?
then I believe that there should be an investigation
in the U.S. Senate, and I will fight to get the truth.
West Virginians and the American people deserve
to know exactly what is going on and whether
politics is interfering with our college sports."
West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller also released
a statement Wednesday, saying, "The Big 12
picked WVU on the strength of its program --
period. Now the media reports that political
games may upend that. That's just flat wrong. I
am doing and will do whatever it takes to get us
back to the merits."