Political scientist Ian Bremmer apologized Monday for fabricating a Trump statement about North Korea and Joe Biden that generated controversy and elicited condemnation from President Trump himself.

Bremmer said that the since-deleted viral tweet, which included a fake Trump quote favorably comparing North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un to Biden, was meant as a joke.

“My tweet yesterday about Trump preferring Kim Jong Un to Biden as President was meant in jest,” Bremmer tweeted Monday morning.

My tweet yesterday about Trump preferring Kim Jong Un to Biden as President was meant in jest. The President correctly quoted me as saying it was a “completely ludicrous” statement. I should have been clearer. My apologies. — ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) May 27, 2019

Bremmer’s fake quote was taken seriously by several high-profile commentators and members of Congress before he deleted it. Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media and a foreign affairs columnist and editor-at-large for Time magazine .

Trump, in Japan, had responded to Bremmer’s original tweet by calling for changes to libel laws to “hold Fake News Media accountable!”

.@ianbremmer now admits that he MADE UP “a completely ludicrous quote,” attributing it to me. This is what’s going on in the age of Fake News. People think they can say anything and get away with it. Really, the libel laws should be changed to hold Fake News Media accountable! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2019

Bremmer acknowledged Monday that he should have made it clearer that the quote was made up.

“I should have been clearer. My apologies,” he tweeted.

The Trump quote that Bremmer tweeted out was: "Kim Jong Un is smarter and would make a better President than Sleepy Joe Biden."

Trump had controversially criticized Biden Saturday, saying that he'd smiled at an insult Kim directed at Biden.

North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2019

Trump did not back down from his remarks and said later on his trip to Japan that Biden "probably is" a "low-IQ individual."