Trump Booster Accuses Obama Of Golfing After Daniel Pearl’s 2002 Murder

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Trump surrogate Kayleigh McEnany on Monday claimed that President Barack Obama “rushed off to a golf game” after the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 — before Obama was elected president.

“You had President Obama who after the — I believe it was the beheading of Daniel Pearl — spoke to how upset he was about that, then rushed off to a golf game,” she said. “I think when we’re in a state of war, when we’re in a state of mourning, you should take time off from the golf course.”

Obama was a member of the Illinois Senate at the time of Pearl’s videotaped beheading in 2002, six years before Obama was elected to his first term as president.

McEnany apologized on Tuesday “for using the wrong name” and tweeted that she meant to refer to James Foley, a photojournalist who went missing in Syria in 2012 and whose videotaped beheading was released in 2014.

Obama faced widespread criticism for golfing not long after he addressed Foley’s murder, and later said he “should’ve anticipated the optics.”

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: