When reached by phone for comment by The Daily Caller, Ellison quickly became defensive.

“I believe that much of the criticism is misrepresenting what happened, misrepresenting the cost of the conference,” Ellison insisted.

“If you figure the cost per person, it was about 85 dollars per person,” she continued. “By citing the total expenditure, [the press] is misrepresenting the cost per person of that conference.”

Ellison couldn’t provide evidence to support her claim, but the IRS IG report revealed that there were 2,609 participants at the $4.1 million conference, a cost of $1,584 per person.

“The only thing I want to say is I think that every situation is complicated. Much gets distorted when people like yourself publish articles. I think everything is complicated. I think it will take thorough analysis to determine what happened, and what the facts are,” Ellison said.