WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional aide who recently criticized President Barack Obama's teenage daughters on social media told NBC News on Monday that she would resign.
Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for Republican Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, had said via a Facebook post that Obama's daughters, Malia, 16, and Sasha, 13, needed to show "a little class," complaining they appeared to look uninterested last week during an appearance with their father at a White House pre-Thanksgiving ceremony at which he had "pardoned" a turkey.
Her post unleashed a backlash on social media, prompting Lauten to later apologize on Facebook for her comments.
"I was taken aback that there was a political operative on Capitol Hill who did use the occasion of the Thanksgiving-themed event to criticize members of the presidential family," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday.
Earnest said that Lauten's subsequent apology was "an appropriate thing for her to do."
Children of presidents have generally been off limits for criticism in Washington.
"Act like being in the White House matters to you," Lauten said in the Facebook post last week.
She also took a shot at the president and his wife, saying the Obama girls did not have good role models.
On Monday, Lauten told NBC News that her resignation from Fincher's staff was "in the works."
No one in Fincher's office was available to confirm Lauten's plans.
(Writing by Bill Trott; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Eric Walsh)