You apologize when you've done something wrong. You offer sympathy when something bad happens. They aren't the same word.
It was a mistake of Huckabee to say it. It'll be a bigger mistake if he refuses to correct it.
OK. SOmetimes you would say “I’m so sorry” when you hear bad news.
But that “sorry” isn’t an apology, even though “I’m sorry” is also used for an apology.
If he had said he was sorry to hear the news, that would be defensible.
On the other hand, I’m willing to believe that he simply used the wrong word “apologies”, and didn’t actually mean we were apologizing for anything.