President Joe Biden asked a crowd at a hunger conference to point out Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski – after she was killed in a car crash in Indiana last month.
Biden, 79, named the late congresswoman while thanking lawmakers from both parties for their efforts in helping his plan to end hunger in the United States by 2030 in a Washington D.C. speech on Wednesday.
‘Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?’ the president asked during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in Washington, DC after also praising Senators Mike Braun, a Republican, and Cory Booker, a Democrat.
‘She must not be here,’ he concluded. The White House was also scheduled to play a video tribute to her 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.
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.
Republican Rep. Andy Biggs 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.’
President Joe Biden asked a crowd at a hunger conference to point out Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski – almost two months after she was killed in a car crash in Indiana
Walorski died in a car crash in Indiana with two of her staffers in August. Biden released a statement at the time saying he was ‘shocked and saddened’ by her death
DailyMail.com has contacted the White House for an explanation.
The president could have slipped up in his remarks or there could have been a mistake with the speech on the teleprompter.
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.’
Walorski 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
Biden, 79, named the late congresswoman while thanking lawmakers from both parties for their efforts in helping his plan to end hunger in the United States
Earlier in his speech on 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.
Investigators determined that the SUV driven by Zachery Potts, 27, (left) crossed the centerline for unknown reasons in a rural area near the town of Wakarusa. Walorski communications director Emma Thomson (right) was also killed
‘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.
President Biden and first lady Jill released a statement in August following the death of Walorski and her two staff members