The press secretary for First Lady Melania Trump released a statement on the recent controversy that came from her husband’s attacking Greta Thunberg after the teenaged climate activist was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

Thunberg became an international person of interest this year when she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to warn about climate change and gave a damning speech to the United Nations. The speech had a bombastic reception as Thunberg warned the U.N. that their member nations aren’t doing enough to protect the environment and that future generations “will never forgive you” if failure to act eventually leads to a calamitous global climate shift.

Trump, who has long taken a far more skeptical approach to climate change, quote-tweeted a congratulatory message to Thunberg from actress Roma Downey (who is likely very surprised to have found herself included in this tete-a-tete). The president called Thunberg’s honor “so ridiculous”, and said the teen has an “Anger Management problem.”

After, Trump received nearly universal criticism for going after the teenaged activist who is afflicted with Asperger’s Syndrome, the attack of which was deemed “absolutely pathetic.” Many critics cited the First Lady’s #BeBest campaign, which discourages bullying, as an example of the seeming disconnect between the West and East Wings of the White House.

First Lady biographer and CNN reporter Kate Bennett released a statement provided by Stephanie Grisham — who serves as the press secretary for both the White House and Melania Trump — that speaks on behalf of Ms. Trump. The statement mentions the #BeBest campaign and draws the reasonable distinction between their 13 year-old son Barron who has not sought any public attention, and the 16 year-old ‘activist who travels the globe giving speeches.” Bennett tweeted:

Barron Trump became a cause celebre last week when constitutional law expert Pamela Karlan referenced the president’s son in a ham-fisted pun about executive privilege. Karlan said “The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron,” which drew immediate outrage from conservatives who curiously viewed this as an attack on the 13 year-old. Melania Trump condemned the mentioning of her son on Twitter, and Karlan eventually apologized.

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