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.
WATCH: Kayleigh McEnany: Obama rushed off to golf after Daniel Pearl was beheaded.
Pearl was killed in 2002. Obama was a state senator. pic.twitter.com/5QkFRgjoR4
— Yashar (@yashar) March 28, 2017
@yashar pic.twitter.com/PE4cTKbou3
— Lana Berry (@Lana) March 28, 2017
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.
I apologize for using the wrong name. Both James Foley and Daniel Pearl lost their lives to terrorism & should be honored by our leaders.
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) March 28, 2017
Obama faced widespread criticism for golfing not long after he addressed Foley’s murder, and later said he “should’ve anticipated the optics.”