Melania Trump defends her son after teacher jokes at impeachment hearing

Melania Trump admonished one of the legal experts who testified at Wednesday's impeachment inquiry hearing after the professor made a joke about her son, Barron, for which the professor later apologized.

“A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your angry and obviously biased public complacency and use a child to do it, ”the first lady said in a fiery tweet addressed directly to Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, an impeachment witness for the United States. House Democrats.

Trump was referring to Karlan's mention of Barron Trump in his testimony, in which she used the 13-year-old's name in an analogy to argue about the differences between kings and presidents.

"The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron," said Karlan, who is in favor of President Donald Trump being challenged.

Karlan later apologized for her comment, saying, “I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president's son, it was wrong of me to do that. I want the president to apologize, obviously, for the things he has done that are wrong, but I'm sorry I said that.

It was the first time Trump had publicly intervened in the impeachment inquiry and investigation into her husband. When asked about Trump's tweet, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told CNN: "I think Ms. Trump's tweet speaks very clearly for itself."

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who is one of Donald Trump's staunchest allies in Congress, directly confronted Karlan about her comment during his question period at the hearing.

"Let me also suggest that when you invoke the name of the president's son here, when you try to make a little joke by referring to Barron Trump, that does not lend credibility to your argument. It makes you look evil, ”Gaetz said to Karlan. "It makes you look like you are attacking someone's family, the youngest son of the President of the United States."

Vice President Mike Pence, during an appearance in Holland, Michigan, also criticized Karlan's comment.

"The impeachment hearings today reached a new level," Pence said. “I just heard at today's hearing, one of the Democrats' witnesses actually used the president and the first lady's 13-year-old son to justify the partisan impeachment of him. Democrats should be ashamed. It's enough".

While the youngest children of presidents have occasionally received criticism and scrutiny, in Washington it has always been a tradition to keep the first children out of the political fray.

In 2017, Chelsea Clinton, who was a year younger than Barron Trump when her father, Bill Clinton, became president, defended Donald Trump's youngest son.

"It is time for the media and everyone to leave Barron Trump alone and let him have the private childhood he deserves," Clinton wrote.