AP apologizes for publishing Karen Pence’s email address

The Associated Press is apologizing for the publication of the personal email address of Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen.

“We regret if the publication of Mrs. Pence’s email address caused any problems,” wrote John Daniszewski, editor-at-large for standards at the AP, in a blog post Monday night.

The controversy began after The Indianapolis Star reported that Mike Pence, a former governor of Indiana, conducted state business on a personal email account that was breached.

{mosads}In the AP’s story on the hacking, Karen Pence’s personal email address was published.

The second lady said she was subject to “vitriolic and malicious emails,” according to a letter to the Associated Press President CEO Gary Pruitt from Pence’s legal counsel.

The vice president then demanded an apology on Twitter.

When we requested they take it down, they refused. The @AP owes my wife an apology. pic.twitter.com/LdMmnewnWF

— Vice President Pence (@VP) March 4, 2017

The AP would not respond to Mike Pence’s request for several days. But on Monday, the AP sent a formal response that it also posted online, stating the email address was shared “in an effort to be transparent.”  

“Before the story was published we thought that Mrs. Pence’s email address was no longer active,” wrote Daniszewski. “We now recognize that including her email address in the story could result in unfortunate and unintended consequences for the Pences.”