After writing a (now removed) thread on Twitter that sparked instant, widespread backlash, president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center Ed Whelan apologized for identifying the hypothetical perpetrator in his speculation that professor Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegation is a case of mistaken identity.

I made an appalling and inexcusable mistake of judgment in posting the tweet thread in a way that identified Kavanaugh’s Georgetown Prep classmate. I take full responsibility for that mistake, and I deeply apologize for it. I realize that does not undo the mistake. — Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) September 21, 2018

Whelan is a respected figure in Washington but presented his pure guesswork as a substantiated theory with floor plans and online evidence, recklessly naming another Georgetown Prep student as the alleged perpetrator because he bears a resemblance to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Blasey Ford shot down the theory in a statement. “I knew them both and socialized with [the man Whelan accused],” she said. “There is zero chance that I would confuse them.”

Whelan has not apologized to Blasey Ford for expressing his doubts that she remembers the alleged attacker in what she describes as an event traumatic enough that it’s haunted her through her adult life.

Whelan is also getting heat because he has a close personal relationship to Kavanaugh, which he did not disclose while spitballing his theory.