Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) passed on a chance to apologize to President Obama on Wednesday after the senator suggested that Obama would not have referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) by her first name if she were “a male senator.”
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Brown on Wednesday afternoon whether or not he had an apology for the President.
“I don’t want this to be personal,” Brown responded, adding that he believes the focus of the debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal should remain on the content of the trade agreement.
He then reiterated his stance that the trade agreement could hurt U.S. workers and the economy.
Brown’s office gave a similar response when asked if the senator had an apology for the President.
Asked if @SenSherrodBrown will apologize to Obama, spokesperson says: “Sen. Brown believes that this debate shouldn’t be personal.”
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) May 13, 2015
Obama and Warren have been locked in an ongoing feud over the TPP. In an interview published on Saturday, Obama criticized Warren’s views on the bill and said that “Elizabeth is, you know, a politician like everybody else.”
On Tuesday, Brown said that Obama’s comments were “disrespectful” and that the President would not have referred to Warren by her first name if she were male.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday morning said that the President calls many senators by their first names and said he was “confident” that Brown would “find a way to apologize.”