The White House on Friday rebuked GOP Sen. David Perdue’s prayer for President Obama in which he cited a Bible verse that his days “should be few.”
Presidential press secretary Josh Earnest said he “did make note of Sen. Perdue’s comments,” and said that if Perdue is considering an apology, “there are a variety of other Scripture he might consult.”
Earnest was responding to an Associated Press reporter’s question about whether or not Perdue should issue an apology.
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Earlier Friday, Perdue told a gathering of religious conservatives at the Faith and Freedom’s Road to the Majority conference in Washington that they should pray for Obama.
The Georgia Republican then referenced Psalms 109:8, in saying that Christians should be “very specific in how we pray.”
“We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says, ‘Let his days be few, and let another have his office,'” Perdue said, to laughter and applause.
“In all seriousness, I believe that America is at a moment of crisis,” he added.
Perdue’s office said it’s a misinterpretation to say Perdue was praying for Obama’s death, and blamed the press for taking his remarks out of context.
But Politico and other reporters, including the AP reporter who asked Earnest the question, point out that the next lines of the Scripture he cited are far more nefarious.
“Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow” and “Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.”
At the tail end of he briefing, Earnest cracked a joke at Perdue’s expense. While giving reporters guidance about next week’s schedule, he mentioned that the Congressional-White House picnic would be Tuesday.
“Sen. Perdue’s attendance is still TBD but his invitation remains,” he remarked.
