GOP Senator David Perdue leads prayer for Obama's death

The next two lines of Scripture: "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow" and "Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places."

Asked if he regretted his remarks in an interview afterward, Perdue answered: "Of course not."

"It was a little humor and I said it in a way that we were talking about his days as president," Perdue said. "So I said 'May his days be few,' and that’s a direct quote from the Scripture. And I set it up by saying, in relation to his being in the office of the presidency."

As far as the lines that followed the verse he quoted, Perdue said it is "really unfortunate" that people are reading those into his prayer.

"The way we set it up was to make sure that it wasn’t the case," he added. "There was no intention to be derogatory at all. It was a little humor.”

Perdue spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said after this article was first published that Perdue "in no way wishes harm towards our president and everyone in the room understood that."

"However, we should add the media to our prayer list because they are pushing a narrative to create controversy and that is exactly what the American people are tired of," she added.

Later in the afternoon, the White House weighed in on the remarks.

“I did make note of Senator Perdue's comments," press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. "As Senator Perdue considers whether or not an apology is appropriate, there a variety of other Scripture he might consult."