After Media Witch Hunt, CNN’s Kayleigh McEnany Apologizes for Mixing Up Americans Beheaded by Terrorists

Kayleigh McEnany, a pro-President Trump surrogate on CNN, apologized Wednesday for her gaffe on the network a day before–but not before anti-Trump forces in and out of the media got their kicks in and Ann Coulter came to her defense.

During a panel discussion Tuesday on President Trump’s golfing while president, McEnany said, “You have 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. 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 basically was a weekly golfer his entire second term, averaging nearly 48 rounds per year during that period with a high of 56 in 2014. Trump reportedly has been to his various golf courses 13 times in his ten weeks as president, but it is not clear he actually played on all those occasions, and administration officials say he takes calls and meetings on his visits.

Pearl was killed in 2002 when George W. Bush was still president and Obama was still in the Illinois state Senate. McEnany was referring to James Foley, a journalist who was beheaded by terrorists in 2014. Obama was at Martha’s Vineyard at the time, where he issued a statement, then went golfing.

“I apologize for using the wrong name,” McEnany said Wednesday on Twitter. “Both James Foley and Daniel Pearl lost their lives to terrorism & should be honored by our leaders.”

Critics on the left pounced.

“File under unbelievable if it wasn’t Trump surrogate and CNN analyst Kayleigh McEnany,” wrote John Amato at Crooks and Liars in a piece that called for her to be suspended. “She either is lying or confused. It’s so hard to tell with Kayleigh, because her sole purpose is not to inform, but to filibuster a segment with bluster so nothing against Donald Trump sticks in the viewer’s memory.”

“Come on, Kayleigh,” added Joy Reid, an MSNBC personality.

“CNN Trump Surrogate Kayleigh McEnany Botches Basic Facts While Ripping Obama,” crowed The Huffington Post.

Ann Coulter came to her defense and put the mistake – McEnany acknowledges up front she is not sure she has the right name – in perspective.

“Yes, it was after a different American was beheaded by a different Muslim,” Coulter tweeted. “Hard to keep them straight.”