Both Traian Băsescu's spokesman, Sever Voinescu, and Valeriu Turcan, the spokesman of the Romanian presidency, denied that either Băsescu or the campaign team was ever aware of any such video Patapievici himself denied ever making the accusation and claimed that his words were intentionally mischaracterized and taken out of context by his accusers, clarifying in a statement that he "only mentioned the tape to emphasize the difference in attitude between Băsescu and his opponents." To support his denial, he cited an e-mail sent in English by the Spanish interviewer, Félix Flores: "Mr. Patapievici did not mentioned the existence of any tape about Mr. Geoana: he just said that Mr. Basescu was offered such a thing and he rejected it. He was not talking about videos -true or fake or may not exist- or against anybody but about Mr. Basescu's moral attitude."