"I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree," Michael Surbaugh wrote in an open letter published on the Scouts' website. "That was never our intent."

He said that every U.S. president, who serves as the Scouts' honorary president, has been invited to speak at the national jamborees held every four years since 1937, but that the Scouts were nonetheless "steadfastly" non-partisan.

"We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program," Surbaugh wrote.