code: def clean_whitespace(statement):
      
      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
docs: Remove any consecutive whitespace characters from the statement text.