Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave minimal credit to President Joe Biden for slamming the illegal immigrant charged with killing Laken Riley – and tore into him for ‘butchering’ the murdered nursing student’s name.
The Georgia congresswoman recollected her interaction with Biden at Thursday’s State of the Union as she spoke to a crowd of supporters at a Donald Trump rally in Rome Georgia on Saturday.
She said that Biden ‘was forced to tell the truth’ about Riley’s death after she screamed at the president in a joint session of Congress to ‘say her name.’
Green was in a loud outfit during the State of the Union, donning a MAGA hat and shirt and button with Riley’s name. She handed one of her buttons to the President as he entered the chamber for his annual address.
‘One thing that happened during the State of the Union this week is when I saw Joe Biden walking down the aisle – I held up this pin,’ the conservative lawmaker said pointing to her button that reads: ‘Laken Riley. Say her name.’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said during a Trump rally in her home district in Georgia on Saturday that Biden was ‘forced to tell the truth’ when she demanded he say Laken Riley’s name after an illegal immigrant was charged with the 22-year-old nursing student’s murder
Greene still slammed Biden after he ‘butchered’ her name and said Lincoln instead of Laken. Pictured: MTG walks around the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia ahead of Trump’s remarks on Saturday, March 9 2024
‘Because one of our girls, one of our sweet Americans, a beautiful 22-year-old girl studying to be a nurse because all she wanted to do was help people. She just wanted to help people her entire life. And her life was taken by an illegal alien, a monster that should have never been in our country,’ Greene added.
But President Biden flubbed the name of Laken Riley after the young woman’s murder became a symbol of the border crisis – and Greene says it isn’t enough just to call a spade a spade.
Speaking to millions of Americans in his annual State of the Union address the president twice called the slain student ‘Lincoln’ as he held up MTG’s pin bearing her name.
‘When I saw Joe Biden, I showed him this pin and said ‘Say her name. Say her name Say her name. Laken Riley. Say her name.’ And then during his speech, after nearly 50 minutes in, he hadn’t talked about the open border. He had not even mentioned it. So I yelled for my seat: ‘Say her name!’ the congresswoman recounted.
‘And then, he butchered her name, he mispronounced it – didn’t even say it right, he said ‘Lincoln.’ Her name is Laken, Laken Riley,’ she added. ‘But you want to know what he did say? He said she was an American murdered by an illegal. That’s right. Even Joe Biden was forced to tell the truth. That is the truth.’
She concluded: ‘And that, ladies and gentlemen, that is the state of our union.’
An illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was released into the country in 2022 is charged with murdering Laken Riley, 22, when she was on a jog near the University of Georgia campus
Greene spoke to Biden as he walked into the House chamber to give his State of the Union Address and handed him a button with Laken Riley’s name on it
Attendees at Trump’s first rally after Super Tuesday and the State of the Union held signs with Riley’s image and the message Greene repeatedly shared: ‘Say her name.’
‘Save our angels,’ the back of the sign reads.
Biden got into several back-and-forths with Republican lawmakers during his remarks Thursday as he repeatedly attacked his GOP presidential rival Donald Trump without saying his name.
But when he talked about a bill to increase border security, which was killed by Republicans after Trump came out against it, GOP lawmakers booed him.
Greene then shouted at Biden ‘say her name.’
‘Lincoln, Lincoln Riley,’ Biden said, holding up the pin. ‘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,’ he said.
President Joe Biden holds up a Laken Riley button during State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Thursday, March 7, 2024
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) calls out to Biden to ‘say her name,’ referring to murdered nursing student Laken Riley, in the middle of his State of the Union speech
The 22-year-old Georgia nursing student was killed while out jogging on February 22.
An Illegal Venezuelan immigrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra, has been charged with her murder.
Hours before Biden’s speech the House passed the Laken Riley Act, which would mandate that migrants who enter the country without authorization and are accused of theft be taken into federal custody.
After Biden spoke about Riley in his speech he then turned to an attack on Trump, offering to work with him to pass a border security bill.
‘If my predecessor’s watching instead of paying politics and pressuring members of Congress to block the bill, join me in telling the Congress to pass it. We can do it together,’ he said.
He then added: ‘I will not demonize immigrants saying they are poisoning the blood of our country. I will not separate families. I will not.’
Republicans previously tanked a border bill – which would provide more funding for technology and agents – after Trump came out against it.
Hammering Biden on the border has been a successful political tactic for Trump.
Two weeks ago, the men made dueling trips to the Southern border to examine the situation there. Biden went to Brownsville, Texas, where illegal crossings are down. Trump went to Eagle Pass, where it’s a huge problem.
‘We can fight about fixing the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it,’ Biden said. ‘Send me the border bill. Now.’
Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Georgia) wears a shirt and button showing slain Georgia college student Laken Riley ahead of the State of the Union address
Thursday was not the first time Biden and Greene have been at odds.
Last year, at the State of the Union, Greene yelled at Biden he was a ‘liar.’
The White House points out how well Biden handled himself at last year’s speech, when he quickly clapped back at Republicans’ booing him for his claim they wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare.
As GOP lawmakers started heckling him, Biden quickly pivoted to say: ‘As we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now.’
House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson had asked his lawmakers to keep it reined in this year during the president’s remarks.
Johnson, at a closed-door GOP conference meeting Wednesday, called for decorum but Greene said her district didn’t mind her calling out to the president last year.
This year, ahead of Biden’s remarks, Greene handed out pins paying tribute to Laken Riley.
Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, concealing the death of another and failure to appear for a finger printable charge.
His illegal status prompted Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to publicly fault the Biden administration for its immigration policies.
Ibarra was arrested in 2022 after entering the US illegally and was ‘paroled and released for further processing,’ according to a statement from ICE.
Greene also wore a t-shirt paying tribute to Riley.
Biden engaged in a vigorous back-and-forth with his GOP hecklers throughout the night.
He brought up the bipartisan border bill that Speaker Johnson has not brought to the House floor, calling it the ‘toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen.
Republicans booed him.
‘Oh, you don’t think so? Oh, you don’t like that bill, that conservatives got together and said it was a good bill. I’ll be darned. That’s amazing,’ Biden told them.
A protester yelled out at President Biden and was removed from the House Chamber
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) (left) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) (right) hold up signs supporting a ceasefire in the Middle East
Democratic members of Congress cheer President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address – many Democratic women lawmakers wore white to show their support for reproductive rights
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and other Democrats wore scarves to show their support for Gaza
Biden’s speech took place under the shadow of the 2024 presidential election and he immediately went into politics.
He did not mention Donald Trump by name but he talked about his ‘predecessor’ when he pushed for Congress to pass an aid package for Ukraine.
Speaker Mike Johnson, sitting behind Biden, appeared to grimace during Biden’s attacks – especially after the president spent much of the first 15 minutes of his speech attacking Trump.
Democrats in the chamber were a rowdy bunch, clapping and cheering frequently, a contrast to what some were saying before Biden’s speech, when they fretted if he would make a mistake that could be politically fatal.
Biden walked into the House chamber to shouts of ‘Joe’ from Democrats and loud applause. Biden, a more than 30-year veteran of Capitol Hill, stopped to talk to several lawmakers as he walked down the aisle.
The president received good luck wishes and even shook hands with Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, one of his frequent critics. ‘Four more years,’ Democrats shouted as he made his way to the dais. It took him eight minutes to make his way down the aisle to the podium.
In his remarks, Biden sought to show the stark differences between himself and his Republican rival. The speech will kick off his rematch with Trump and mark the start of the 2024 general election.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators block a street during a protest ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address
Overall, the goal of the White House is to present Biden, 81, as energetic enough to do the job and turn questions about his age into an argument for his experience.
The president headed into the speech with a 56% disapproval rating, per the Five Thirty-Eight polling average.
Biden had spent the past five days preparing for his State of the Union address, trying to cover all the possibilities: tea to keep his throat smooth, a print out of his remarks – with giant type – in case the teleprompter went out, and hours of practice sessions.
Biden offered a positive view of the nation in his address, focusing on a unity agenda that contained overall popular items like dealing with the mental health epidemic, curbing opioid abuse, aiding veterans and improving cancer care.
In his remarks, the president portrayed the upcoming election as a choice on personal freedoms such as reproductive rights. He vowed to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land if Americans give him a Democratically-controlled Congress.
Pro-Palestine protesters are in the street to block President Joe Biden’s motorcade between the White House and Capitol for his State of the Union address
Several hundred Pro-Palestinian protesters sat in the street to block Biden’s motorcade between the White House and Capitol before he headed to the Capitol to deliver his remarks.
A massive Palestinian flag was unfurled on the street with demonstrators sitting and standing around it and others held a banner with the message: ‘Biden’s legacy is genocide.’
The protesters held bullhorns, held ‘ceasefire’ signs, wore black shirts with messages demanding Biden get tough on Israel and were surrounded by law enforcement officials from all sides.
But Biden’s motorcade did not go by the group in route to the Capitol, according to the pool of reporters traveling with him.