Republicans demand Biden APOLOGIZE to late colleague Jackie Walorski’s family after blunder

Republicans lawmakers are demanding that Joe Biden apologize to late Representative Jackie Walorski’s family after he called out for her during an event Wednesday and the White House tried to cover up for him forgetting she was deceased by saying she was ‘at top of mind.’

The president was looking for Walorski during his remarks and specifically asked where she was – even after releasing a statement last month on her death after she and two of her staffers were killed in a car crash in Indiana.

‘Jackie, are you here?’ Where’s Jackie?’ Biden, 79, said during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in D.C.

‘She must not be here,’ he concluded while thanking other lawmakers for the bipartisan effort aimed at ending hunger and food insecurity in the U.S. by 2030.

The moment immediately went viral on Twitter.

‘Truly an awful and disgraceful blunder,’ Missouri GOP Representative Vicky Hartzler noted in a Wednesday tweet.

‘Jackie was a selfless leader and a dear friend,’ she continued. ‘Her family deserves better than this. Biden and the entire White House staff should apologize.’

At the White House briefing on Wednesday, Biden’s spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to deflect from the gaffe by claiming she was on the president’s mind due to her family’s upcoming visit with the president on Friday.

‘The White House Press Secretary completely failed to defend Biden’s unacceptable comments about my late friend and colleague Jackie Walorski,’ Arizona Representative David Schweikert tweeted after the briefing.

‘The president should personally apologize to her family and loved ones immediately,’ he demanded.

Republicans on the Judiciary Committee called Jean-Pierre’s excuse ‘disgusting’ from the official Twitter account. 

Representative Jim Banks, who introduced the bill to rename a Veterans Affairs clinic in Indiana after Walorski, which Biden is signing on Friday, told DailyMail.com that the blunder was ’embarrassing.’

Congressman Andy Biggs also jumped on the comments and tweeted with a clip of the video: ‘Your daily reminder that Biden is mentally unfit to be the President of the United States.’

White House’s explanation for why Biden was looking for Walorski was confusing and nonsensical – and only led to more questions over the latest gaffe.

The briefing room devolved into shouts as Jean-Pierre repeatedly suggested that the president did not forget Walorski was dead when calling out for her during his remarks earlier in the day.

Jean-Pierre insisted that it’s ‘not unusual’ for people to say the names of deceased individuals when they are ‘at top of mind,’ a phrase she continued to repeat throughout her briefing Wednesday during questions from multiple outlets including CNN and CBS. 

Walorski’s family plans to meet with Biden at a White House on Friday, another reason that Jean-Pierre claims she was on the president’s mind during the event.

‘I think the American people out there who, you know, watch the briefing from time to time, maybe at this moment , will understand when someone is at top of mind,’ Jean-Pierre said.

‘I don’t think it’s all that unusual to have someone top of mind, especially as there’s a big event – two big events – today and also Friday that is going to occur,’ she said. ‘And so he is going to see her family, they’re going to honor her, they’re going to celebrate her.’

The White House was scheduled to play a video tribute to Walorski during the event.

Walorski, who was 58 at the time of her death, was among the four people killed in a head-on collision on August 3, 2022 when returning from a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Claypool, Indiana. 

The other deceased were the driver of the other vehicle as well as two staffers in the lawmaker’s office, communications director, Emma Thomson, 28, and her district director, Zachery Potts, 27. 

Biden released a statement on her passing at the time and announced that White House flags would fly at half-staff in her honor.

Jean-Pierre said that the comments needed to be taken into context so they made more sense, rather than admitting Biden made a mistake by forgetting Walorski was killed in the crash last month.

After being questioned on the mishap five times during the briefing, reporters began shouting over each other to try and get Jean-Pierre to answer the question more directly and give a more reasonable explanation.

This caused Jean-Pierre to shush and shut down Al Jazeera reporter Kimberly Halkett and call her ‘rude.’

‘I’m sorry, somebody was yelling over,’ Jean-Pierre said when trying to redirect to a reporter asking an unrelated question.

‘It is not your turn to speak and you’re being rude to your colleagues,’ the press secretary shot toward Halkett.

‘You’re yelling over your colleagues so that is incredibly rude so can you –’ Jean-Pierre said as the reporter said she was trying to get an answer to the question several members of the press asked throughout the briefing.

The latest gaffe will raise more questions about his mental acuity. A majority of voters told an Insider/Morning Consult poll last week that he is unfit to serve in public office. 

The president could have slipped up in his remarks or there could have been a mistake with the speech on the teleprompter. 

One reporter asked if the White House would release the remarks as they were prepared, which is typical with the president’s public speeches. While Jean-Pierre was receptive to the question, she also cast doubt over why it was necessary to specifically have these remarks as she continued to downplay the latest gaffe by the president. 

Biden’s statement at the time of Walorski’s death read: ‘Jill and I are shocked and saddened by the death of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski of Indiana along with two members of her staff in a car accident today in Indiana.

‘Born in her beloved South Bend as the daughter of a meat-cutter and firefighter, she spent a lifetime serving the community that she grew up in – as a journalist, a nonprofit director, a state legislator, and eventually as a Member of Congress for the past nine and half years.

‘We may have represented different parties and disagreed on many issues, but she was respected by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee on which she served. 

‘She also served as co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, and my team and I appreciated her partnership as we plan for a historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this fall that will be marked by her deep care for the needs of rural America.

‘We send our deepest condolences to her husband, Dean, to the families of her staff members, Zachery Potts and Emma Thomson who lost their lives in public service, and to the people of Indiana’s Second District who lost a representative who was one of their own.’

The latest mishap has brought up previous questions regarding President Biden’s mental and physical fitness for office amid a series of verbal gaffes and incidents – including falling off his bike and up the stairs.

The most recent before his gaffe on Wednesday was last week at the 7th Global Fund Replenishment Conference, which was held in New York and is aimed at fighting AIDS, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Following his remarks, he appears to get ‘lost’ when exiting the stage – engaging in a few awkward starts and stops and appearing to ask people in the audience how to get off stage. The scene was described as ‘terrifying’ and ‘sad’ by observers on social media.

Other awkward encounters have also been caught on camera over the last nearly two years as president, including two different instances where Biden stuck out his arm to shake hands with an invisible person.

At a White House event fresh out of his COVID quarantine, Biden appeared to forget that he already shook hands with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, sticking his hand out for a second time with a confused look on his face as the New York Democrat turned away.

It happened again in April after wrapping a speech in North Carolina where he turned to his right and stuck out his hand while staring into space and wandering around the stage before exiting.

Many have also pointed to Biden’s mishap in August when he struggled for nearly a minute trying to put on his suit jacket – and continued to have issues even with the help of first lady Jill Biden – as more evidence of his declining physical condition.

He then proceeded to drop his sunglasses leading to an overall awkward disembarkment from Marine One after surveying the storm damage in Kentucky.

One of the biggest embarrassments for Biden happened during a bike ride on his Rehoboth Beach vacation in Delaware where he completely fell off his bike and crashed to the ground.

Earlier this month during his 60 Minutes interview, Biden shot down suggestions he was too old or unfit to run again in 2024 – and said ‘watch me’.

During his speech Wednesday, Biden addressed Hurricane Ian and warned gas and oil companies not to use it as an ‘excuse’ to raise prices at the pump.

He asked Floridians to abide by evacuation orders as the Category 4 storm approaches the gulf shoreline. 

‘And if you forgive me I want to add one more warning,’ Biden said. ‘That’s a warning to the oil and gas industry executives: Do no, let me repeat, do not, do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people.’ 

Biden pointed out that while the price of oil has remained relatively low, gas prices should be going down. 

In recent days, the price at the pump has ticked up again. 

He added that less than 2 percent of oil production in the U.S. will be impacted – and only briefly – by the hurricane. 

‘This small temporary storm impact on oil production provides no excuse, no excuse for price increases at the pump. None,’ he said. ‘If gas companies try to use this storm to raise prices at the pump, I will ask officials to look into whether price gouging is going on.’ 

‘For Americans watching, the industry should do the right thing,’ the president added. 

Biden also relayed that he had spoken to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a thorn in his side on immigration and other matters in recent months, in a phone call Tuesday night.