Rep. Jackie Walorski died in a car accident in early August.
QUICK FACTS:
- President Joe Biden looked for and called up the late Congresswoman Jackie Walorski from stage at an event Wednesday.
- Biden seemed confused while speaking at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in Washington.
- Before her sudden passing after a car accident, Walorski was one of four lawmakers who sponsored legislation related to the conference last year.
- The president gave a shoutout to the other three lawmakers involved and called for Walorski, seeming to want to address her as well.
- “I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like … Senator Braun, Senator Booker, Representative … Jackie, Jackie are you here?” Biden asked. “I think she was going to be here to help make this a reality.”
PRESS SEC BRUSH OFF:
- White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed off the incident when asked by reporters about it during a briefing on Wednesday.
- Jean-Pierre seemed to want reporters to accept that because the lawmaker was on Biden’s mind, he called for her without actually forgetting that she was no longer living, telling reporters 14 times that the deceased Walorski was at “top of mind” for the president.
- “The president was naming the congressional champions on this issue and was acknowledging her incredible work,” Jean-Pierre said. “He had already planned to welcome the congresswoman’s family to the White House. On Friday, there will be a bill signing in her honor this coming Friday. So, of course, she was on his mind. She was top of mind for the president.”
BACKGROUND:
- Walorski 58, and two staffers, communications director Emma Thomson, 28, and district director Zachary Potts, 27, were all killed in a crash on Aug. 3 of this year.
- A tribute to the late lawmaker and her staffers was played at the Wednesday event, just before the president’s comments.
