Professor Pamela Karlan offered a qualified apology Wednesday after being called out by first lady Melania Trump for using Barron Trump’s name during her impeachment testimony.
“I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president’s son. It was wrong of me to do that,” the Stanford professor said before turning her apology into another attack on President Donald Trump. “I wish the president would apologize, obviously, for the things that he’s done that’s wrong, but I do regret having said that.” (RELATED: Melania Trump Blasts Pamela Karlan For Barron Trump Joke: ‘You Should Be Ashamed’)
Pamela Karlan:
“I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president’s son. It was wrong of me to do that. I wish the president would apologize, obviously, for the things that he’s done that’s wrong, but I do regret having said that.”pic.twitter.com/q7FGEHVsxI
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 4, 2019
Karlan, in attempting to make a point about the fact that the Constitution does not allow for titles of nobility, said that “the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron.”
She quickly incurred the wrath of the first lady, who issued a tweet rebuking her for using a child as a political prop. “A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it,” she tweeted.
A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it.
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) December 4, 2019
Melania was not alone in voicing her outrage over the mention of her son’s name.
Pamela Karlan during today’s impeachment hearing said “The Constitution doesn’t allow titles of nobility. The president can name his son Barron, but he can’t make him a baron.” This attack on a 13 year old minor is disgusting and uncalled for. Apologize! #MediaAccountability?
— Corey R. Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) December 4, 2019
This is the sort of stuff that loses independent voters in the Midwest. They don’t like people so angry they attack someone’s 13-year-old son. This is the kind of anger that helped them lose the recall in Wisconsin.https://t.co/evOfCLeTbr
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) December 4, 2019
Prof. Karlan uses the Trump family to outline the Constitution’s rule that there can’t be titles of nobility, saying ‘while the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron.’ Follow live #impeachmenthearing updates: https://t.co/HNWWM52Ejj pic.twitter.com/JIJcvl83Qg
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 4, 2019
Not everyone was buying Karlan’s apology at face value, however.
Karlan apologizes for using Barron Trump’s name to make a point about the limits of Presidential powers & she wishes the President wd apologize for all the things he’s done that are wrong. Believe that’s the Platonic form of the fauxpology and #sorrynotsorry in one tidy package.
— GovTrack.???????? (@govtrack) December 4, 2019
I’m glad Karlan apologized just now for going after Trump’s youngest son, but spare us the moral equivalencies. What she did was wrong wrong and it isn’t made less so by her objections to her target’s dad.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) December 4, 2019