Opinion
Marjorie Taylor Greene twice pressured President Biden at the State of the Union speech to say the name of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia who was tragically murdered allegedly by an illegal immigrant while jogging on campus.
It worked. Sort of. If he only knew her name.
The first incident took place during the time-honored tradition in which the President walks into the chamber and is greeted by members of Congress as he heads off to deliver the State of the Union address.
In a direct face-to-face confrontation, Greene (R-GA) handed Biden a pin with Laken Riley’s name and face on it and demanded: “Laken Riley. Say her name.”
The suspect in Riley’s murder, Jose Ibarra, is an illegal immigrant who had been arrested in 2022 for illegally crossing the border near El Paso, Texas. Details of the case are gruesome.
Republicans suggest that her case is an example of the President’s failed open border policies.
Marjorie Taylor Greene directly confronts Joe Biden: “Laken Riley. Say her name.” pic.twitter.com/fVonGCuCxm
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 8, 2024
RELATED: Illegal Alien Arrested For Murdering Laken Riley Accused Of ‘Seriously Disfiguring’ Her Skull
Greene Again Confronts Biden DURING The State Of The Union
Biden gave a rather contentious State of the Union speech, filled with partisan attacks against his political opponents, a noticeable break in decorum for such an event.
Many of his comments prompted shouting from Republican lawmakers who disapproved of his assertions. When the President spoke about the border crisis, Greene shouted again: “Say her name.”
And he did. Well, at least he tried to.
“Lincoln, Lincoln Riley,” Biden said, holding up the pin Greene had handed to him earlier. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
Biden going off script had to have left his handlers flummoxed. And he promptly made things worse by downplaying Riley’s murder and suggesting more Americans are being killed by “legals.”
“Lincoln” Riley?
It’s just appalling. pic.twitter.com/6QNdYKhN5e
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) March 8, 2024
Related: Trump Dubs Today ‘National Day of Remembrance’ For Americans Who Have Been Murdered By Illegal Immigrants
Stunning Moment
President Biden being forced to say the name of a woman murdered by an illegal immigrant during the State of the Union address is a remarkable moment. Especially for a man who has run the single most pro-illegal administration in the history of this nation.
His own Department of Homeland Security warned against using the term “illegal alien” in 2021. And several Democrats were outraged that he used the word at all. More outraged, it would seem, than they were over the killing of Laken Riley itself.
There has been some debate over whether or not President Biden meant to say “illegals” or “legals” regarding his follow-up statement on Riley.
Former Fox News Producer Kyle Becker contends that the comment was terrible whichever way you look at it.
“If Biden meant to say LEGALS, Joe wasn’t just owning himself by showing he didn’t even know the girl’s name, he minimized her death for political points by equating it to a murder by legal migrant,” Becker wrote on X.
“If he meant ILLEGALS, then he is damning his own disastrous border policies.”
In addressing the murder of Laken Riley, President Biden did as he so often does. He compared her murder to the death of his son Beau.
“To her parents I say my heart goes out to you, having lost children myself, I understand,” he said.
Critics would suggest that Beau Biden’s death, while certainly tragic and heartbreaking, is not comparable to losing a child due to a highly preventable murder.
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