Lynne Patton, a top official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, extended an apology to journalist April Ryan after calling her “Miss Piggy” and a “bankrupt blogger” on Twitter.
“I hear #Miss Piggys still on a rampage. Gee, I must’ve struck a nerve, @AprilRyan! #BankruptBlogger,” Patton, a longtime ally of the Trump family, said in a now-deleted tweet.
Patton, who heads a HUD regional office, later apologized to Ryan on both her personal and HUD Twitter accounts.
“Tonight, I made an inexcusable comment on my personal Twitter account that I deeply regret & deleted on my own volition,” Patton said on her HUD account. “I sincerely apologize to @AprilDRyan. I also wish to apologize to my staff at @HUDNY_NJ, @SecretaryCarson & the #Trump family who deserved better leadership.”
“I deleted my last tweet by choice,” she said on her personal account.
“No one from this Administration contacted me. It was beneath me & I apologize to @AprilDRyan,” Patton wrote. “My parents raised me to respect others & I regret my response. I apologize to them, @SecretaryCarson & the Trump family. They deserved better.”
Patton’s derogatory tweet had been sent from her personal account. It concluded a series of several other tweets criticizing Ryan.
In response, Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, told Patton to “kick rocks.”
Kick rocks little girl. Find a job! @LynnePatton I ain’t the one! Girl bye. Blogger girl I do news. What do you do? Do you work at HUD or play at it you washed up wedding planner. Girl bye! https://t.co/YtfF4QHzy5
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) January 25, 2018
Fake info girl! Check your facts. I work for American Urban Radio Networks not Sheridan! Whose wedding are you planning now and what wig company do you work for? https://t.co/YtfF4QHzy5
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) January 24, 2018
Patton, who was a Trump campaign surrogate, previously served as an event planner for the Trump family and worked as vice president of the Eric Trump Foundation from 2011 to 2017. She was chosen over the summer last year to oversee the office that has New York and New Jersey under its jurisdiction.
