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Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
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Description:
 def clean_whitespace(statement):
 """ Remove any consecutive whitespace characters from the statement text. """

    import re

    # Replace linebreaks and tabs with spaces
    statement.text = statement.text.replace('\n', ' ').replace('\r', ' ').replace('\t', ' ')

    # Remove any leeding or trailing whitespace
    statement.text = statement.text.strip()

    # Remove consecutive spaces
    statement.text = re.sub(' +', ' ', statement.text)

    return statement