Biden defends calling Laken Riley's migrant 'murderer' an 'illegal' during the ... trends now
President Joe Biden defended his improvised remark in his State of the Union speech calling the alleged killer of Laken Riley an 'illegal' after the remark drew outrage from fellow Democrats.
The president got asked about his use of the word Friday as he prepared to board Air Force One for a campaign trip to Philadelphia, after his remark was drawing pushback from lawmakers who consider the term as dehumanizing.
Asked if he regretted the comment – after subordinates were walking it back – Biden stuttered and searched for the right response on the fraught topic.
'Well, I probably –I don't regr– technically not supposed to be here,' Biden said.
President Biden got asked if he regretted calling the accused killer of Laken Riley an 'illegal'
That came after progressives pounced on his ad-libbed remark during his address, even while conservatives pounced over Biden mistakenly using the wrong name to describe the victim in the tragic killing.
The awkward intra-party clash came during one of the most intense moments of Biden's fiery address, when he sparred with a heckling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) after she demanded he say the name of the murdered nursing student allegedly killed by a Venezuelan immigrant.
Biden botched Riley's name in his response, mistakenly calling her 'Lincoln.' But he also used a term verboten on the left when used as a noun referring to people who jump the border without legal documents.
'Lincoln, Lincoln Riley,' said Biden while holding up a pin Greene had handed him calling on him to say her name. 'An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.
'But how many of thousands of people being killed by legals? To her parents I say my heart goes out to you, having lost children myself, I understand,' Biden retorted.
'Technically not supposed to be here,' Biden responded
President Joe Biden, holding up a pin of Laken Riley, referred to her as an 'innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal'. Progressive Democrats condemned his use of the term
'No human being is illegal,' wrote Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), one of several lawmakers to blast Biden's word choice on Twitter afterward.
'Let me be clear: No human being is illegal,' wrote 'squad' member Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who immigrated from Somalia.
'I'm extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal,' wrote Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.) calling himself a 'proud immigrant.'
'There was a lot of good in President Biden’s speech tonight, but his rhetoric about immigrants was incendiary and wrong,' wrote Rep. Joaquin Catro (D-Texas) in a trio of tweets. 'My guest for this year's State of the Union was the widow of a North
