Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) deleted a tweet Friday in which he mocked President Donald Trump for visiting tornado victims in Alabama, and apologized. Lieu explained that he had not known the purpose of Trump’s Alabama trip.

As the Washington Free Beacon reported (original link):

The president announced three days earlier that he would meet with the victims of a tornado that killed 23 people and caused extensive property damage. “I’ll be heading to Alabama on Friday,” Trump said during a White House veterans’ event. “It’s been a tragic situation. But a lot of good work is being done.” When the day came, Trump tweeted he was on his way to Alabama. Lieu reacted with his “#FridayMorning Thoughts.” “WE ARE IN THE THIRD WEEK OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY! Can you feel the emergency?” Lieu tweeted, a reference to Trump’s effort to declare a national emergency in order to bypass Congress and fund his proposed border wall. “Is this why @realDonaldTrump is going to Alabama, because we need to build a wall along Alabama’s southern border? Oh wait, I just looked at the map…” he continued. “#FridayMorning Thoughts.”

Lieu later deleted his tweet, and apologized:

I have concluded based on Twitter comments I received that my last tweet was inappropriate. I understand the purpose now of the President’s visit to Alabama. I apologize and am going to delete my tweet. — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 8, 2019

Lieu, who represents beachfront communities in Los Angeles County in California’s 33rd congressional district, was elected as a mild-mannered, moderate Democrat in 2014. Following Trump’s election in 2016, however, he became a full-time Twitter gadfly, frequently tweeting claims about Russian “collusion” with Trump’s campaign.

His approach has drawn huge support — and fundraising dollars — from his predominantly left-wing constituency.

“He is a danger to the republic,” he told a Santa Monica town hall meeting in 2017, according to the UCLA Daily Bruin. “The most patriotic thing I can do is to resist Donald Trump.”

Lieu is also a reserve colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and is barred by military law from using “contemptuous words” against the president.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.