A guest on MSNBC has apologized for downplaying the murder of Mollie Tibbetts as a 'girl in Iowa' that 'Fox News is talking about'.

Christina Greer admitted that she made 'flippant' remarks on Tuesday's The Beat about the slain student and the allegations that she was murdered by an illegal immigrant.

The Fordham University professor slammed Fox for prioritizing coverage of her death over the guilty verdicts of Trump allies Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen.

The political scientist and author of Black Ethnics, faced a huge backlash on Twitter after she complained she had been 'ringing the alarm in this show for months'.

She also said that Trump would use the fact Tibbetts was killed by a Mexican illegal immigrant to push an agenda.

However, during suspect Cristhian Bahena Rivera's first court appearance on Wednesday, his lawyer Allan M. Richards insisted his client was in the country legally.

It means his immigration status is unclear.

Christina Greer (pictured on MSNBC's The Beat) referred to Mollie Tibbetts as 'a girl in Iowa' when comparing Fox News' coverage of President Donald Trump scandals to the murder

The political scientist was pressured to apologize after Twitter users expressed their outrage when seeing her comments on the show, that seemingly downplayed the Tibbetts murder

Many did not accept her apology and suggested she was using it to push her own agenda

Others felt Greer did not need to backtrack on her comments about the murder coverage

'I'm sure we'll hear what he has to say about this at his — his rally, but Fox News is talking about, you know, a girl in Iowa and not this, right?,' she rounded off the TV chat.

'And, tomorrow morning, we know he'll wake up in tweak and sort of, you know, besmirch the reputation of Michael Cohen and all the people around him and then go back to Mueller. And this has, obviously, been boiled down to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.'

The clip from the show was immediately circulated online, with NRA life member Alana Mastrangelo sharing it with her 113,000 followers, complaining Greer 'doesn't even know her name.'

Greer said Wednesday the message was 'unintended' in a Twitter apology that hasn't gone down well with many users of the micro-blogging site.

'Yesterday I said something flippant that was unintended,' she tweeted Wednesday. 'Mollie Tibbets (sic) was a promising young woman who lost her life. My hope is that her family will find peace & justice and that her murder is not used to justify a discriminatory immigration policy. #Apologiesaremyown.'

NRA life member got her followers talking when she shared the clip from the show

Mollie Tibbetts was found dead on August 21, five weeks after she was abducted by Mexican illegal immigrant Cristhian Rivera, 24. He attacked her while she was out jogging then dumped her body in a cornfield

Social media users responded to posts of the video, calling Greer's words 'despicable'

Vanzetti positioned Tibbetts' passing in comparison to children being separated at the border

Shelly Castronovo suggested Greer and her peers were 'not truly human anymore'

It was in response to people who expressed how appalled they were by the comment, with many suggesting she's not interested because Mollie's story doesn't fit her own agenda.

'Mollie Tibbetts wasn't just 'a girl in Iowa'-seriously? How about a beautiful young lady who was brutally killed by an illegal alien? Despicable!' JJensen wrote.

On the other hand, some people on social media didn't think she needed to backtrack on her comment.

'Classy- but still it was a minor story compared to the major breaking news Fox was ignoring at the time, I think most people understood you. Nevertheless, your observations & insights re. the Trump regime were excellent,' Gipper's gravespin replied.

One user wrote out a suggested apology Greer should have used instead of her own

People largely agreed that Tibbetts' murder should not be played down in news coverage

As Greer had predicted, President Trump was indeed among the first to turn talk about the tragedy of Tibbetts' murder to calls for tighter immigration laws on Tuesday after it was revealed the 20-year-old was murdered by an illegal alien.

Mexican national Cristhian Rivera, 24, has been living in Iowa and working illegally for anywhere between four and seven years.

On July 18, he attacked Mollie in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, while she was out jogging, killed her and then dumped her body in a cornfield.

He was arrested on Monday after recently recovered surveillance footage led police to his Chevy Malibu.

At a rally in West Virginia on Tuesday night, Trump said the 'incredible, beautiful' young woman's death should never have happened.

'You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in very sadly from Mexico and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman.

'Should have never happened. Illegally in our country. We've had a huge impact but the laws are so bad.

'The immigration laws are such a disgrace. We're getting them changed but we have to get more Republicans. We have to get,' Trump said to cheers of 'build the wall'.

Iowa's Governor Kim Reynolds said she and the rest of the state were 'heartbroken' by the discovery of Mollie's body.

She blamed the young woman's death on the country's 'broken' immigration system, tweeting: 'As Iowans, we are heartbroken and we are angry.

It remains unclear exactly how long Rivera, who is from the Mexican state of Guerrero originally, had been living in the US.

Rivera has been living illegally in Iowa for between four and seven years. It is not clear when he entered the US

Rivera's employer Yarrabee Farms (pictured) denied hiring illegal immigrants and said the family-run firm would cooperate fully with the Tibbetts inquiry. He said Rivera passed a background check when he was employed

This is the home Rivera was staying in Iowa. He lived with his baby and his girlfriend

ICE has no record of ever trying to deport him and the Iowa farm where he worked confirmed yesterday that he had passed background checks when he was employed.

Dane Lang, co-owner of Yarrabee Farms along with Eric Lang, confirmed that Rivera had worked there for four years and was an employee 'of good standing.'

Dane's brother is Craig Lang, former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Board of Regents, and a 2018 Republican candidate for state secretary of agriculture.

Dane's statement said: 'First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Mollie Tibbetts.

'This is a profoundly sad day for our community. All of us at Yarrabee Farms are shocked to hear that one of our employees was involved and is charged in this case.

'This individual has worked at our farms for four years, was vetted through the government's E-Verify system, and was an employee in good standing.

Mollie was abducted while running along 385th street, in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18, and her body was discovered just over a month later in a corn field in Poweshiek County

Mollie (left and right) was staying alone overnight in her boyfriend's home the night she went missing and was last seen going for a jog in the neighborhood at around 8pm July 18

The E-Verify site allows employers to establish the eligibility of employees, both US or foreign, by comparing a worker's Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 with data held by the government.

The employee is eligible to work in the US if the data matches. If it doesn't, the worker has only eight federal government work days to resolve the issue.

Rivera lived in Iowa with his girlfriend, who was friends with Mollie on Facebook, and their baby daughter.

The girlfriend fled town on Tuesday after his arrest.

Police were only able to link Rivera to the car by watching surveillance footage they obtained from cameras at someone's home.

They discovered the cameras while canvassing the neighborhood a week ago and spent days combing through the footage.

On Monday, Rivera did not resist police. He went with them willingly, made a full confession and then led them to Mollie's body. His motive remains unclear.

The family were emotional as they heard that Mollie's body had been discovered