Donald Trump rips Biden for smearing Laken Riley’s name, apologizing for calling alleged killer ‘illegal’ after meeting her family

News from the USA

from Patrick Riley

Donald Trump lashed out at President Biden for getting the name of slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley wrong during the State of the Union address and then later apologized for describing the alleged migrant killer as “illegal “.

Trump had just met Riley’s family at a rally in Rome outside Atlanta on Saturday night when he took the stage and grilled the president about his border policy in his first campaign event since his big Super Tuesday primary victories.

The Trump campaign handed out posters featuring Riley’s face with the phrases “Remember our angels” and “Say her name” emblazoned on them, ABC News reported.

“You got Laken’s name wrong.” Lincoln. Mixing her up with the football coach,” Trump said, referring to USC Lincoln football coach Michael Riley.

“We share your sorrow,” Trump said of Riley’s friends and family, adding that she is “at home with God in heaven.”

Biden pulled the 22-year-old’s name twice during his annual address on Thursday, in which he launched an offensive against Trump.

After persistent prodding during the speech, insisting he say Riley’s name, the president held up a pin with Riley’s name on it, handed to him by Representative Marjorie Taylor Green [R-SC] and said “I know how to say her name.”

“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden said, both garbled her name and used a term considered politically incorrect by most Democratic Party officials.

On Saturday, Biden apologized for using the word “illegal” to refer to the suspected killer, who crossed into the country illegally from Venezuela. Notably, he never apologized for saying Riley’s name wrong.

Trump told supporters he was outraged by the apology.

“[Biden] I didn’t want to call it illegal,” Trump said to loud boos from the crowd. “He said he should have called it undocumented, not illegal, and he wants to apologize.”

“I’m saying he was illegal, he was an illegal alien, he was an illegal immigrant and he should not have been in our country and he would never have come under Trump’s policies,” the 45th president said.

Riley was killed while jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national who entered the United States illegally in 2022, is being held without bail on charges of malicious murder, criminal homicide, aggravated battery, kidnapping and other charges related to Riley’s death.

Trump added that Biden has “no remorse, no regret” and he himself should “apologize for apologizing to this murderer.”

Riley’s mother, Alison Phillips, said it was “shameful” that the president got her daughter’s name wrong.

“If you’re going to say her name (even when forced to), at least say the right name!” she posted on social media.

Biden held his own dueling rally in Atlanta on Saturday in the battleground state that secured Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.