Impeachment Witness Pamela Karlan on Barron Trump Comment: ‘I Want to Apologize’

Constitutional scholars (L-R) Noah Feldman of Harvard University, Pamela Karlan of Stanford University, Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina, and Jonathan Turley of George Washington University are sworn in prior to testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 4, 2019. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Stanford Law School professor Pamela Karlan offered an apology for invoking President Donald Trump’s 13-year-old son, Barron Trump, to criticize the president during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on impeachment on Wednesday.

But Karlan said she hopes that Trump apologizes for his actions, without elaborating.

“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,” she said.

During the hearing, when she was questioned by Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), she took a jab at Barron’s name.

“While the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron,” she had quipped to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).

Melania Trump, the first lady and mother of Barron, criticized the move on Twitter.

“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 wrote.

The Trump 2020 reelection campaign also issued a statement about her comment.

“Only in the minds of crazed liberals is it funny to drag a 13-year-old child into the impeachment nonsense,” read a statement from campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany. “Pamela Karlan thought she was being clever and going for laughs, but she instead reinforced for all Americans that Democrats have no boundaries when it comes to their hatred of everything related to President Trump.”

Trump’s campaign then brought up Hunter Biden, the 49-year-old son of former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump and other Republicans have said that he should be called to testify in front of the House and Senate impeachment hearings.

“Hunter Biden is supposedly off-limits according to liberals, but a 13-year-old boy is fair game,” McEnany added. “Disgusting.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) tweeted that he received unanimous consent to enter Melania’s tweet into the the record, describing Karlan’s remark as “shameful.”

Karlan was joined at the hearing on Wednesday by Noah Feldman of Harvard University, Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina, and Jonathan Turley of George Washington University.