On Wednesday, the brother of late Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski told the New York Post that President Biden placed a heartfelt call to the family when the Indiana Republican died in a car crash last month and that, despite the president forgetting her death in public, he’s not angry because Biden is “doing the best he can do with what he’s got right now.”
Keith Walorski, one of the deceased lawmaker’s two brothers, is preparing to visit the White House on Friday with his mother and one of his sister’s close friends.
“It’s par for the course,” Walorski told the Post of Biden’s bizarre gaffe. “I feel sorry for him, really.”
“He made a phone call after my sister was killed and he was very sincere in his relaying the grief process because he’s been through that grief process, he knows all about it,” he said. “All I’m saying right now about the president is bless his heart for trying. Yeah, it was a big mess-up today. Inexcusable? No. Unforgivable? No. I’m not gonna hold it against him. I just feel sorry for him.”
On Wednesday, Biden asked where Walorski was during an event on hunger and nutrition, despite having put out a lengthy written statement after Rep. Walorski’s death and even lowering the White House flags for two days in her honor.
“I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Representative [Jim] McGovern, Senator [Mike] Braun, Senator [Cory] Booker, Representative Jackie — are you here? Where’s Jackie? — I think she was going to be here,” the president said.
The late congresswoman’s brother said he believes the 79-year-old president may simply be forgetful due to his age.
“That’s probably a nice way of putting it: He’s forgetful. I don’t think anybody would look at the things that he’s done and said and say that his mind is as sharp as it used to be,” he said, adding, “I don’t know what else to say. He is doing the best he can do with what he’s got right now.”
The gaffe was the focus of the daily White House briefing, but press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stuck to talking points and repeated the claim that Rep. Walorski was simply “top of mind” for the president, not addressing why he forgot she was dead.
“The confusing part is, why if [Walorski] and the family are top of mind does the president think she’s living and in the room?” Matt Viser of the Washington Post asked Jean-Pierre at one point.
Newsmax reporter James Rosen added, “Karine, I have John Lennon top of mind just about every day, but I’m not looking around for him anywhere.”
Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said to Jean-Pierre as she continued to dodge questions, “[We’re] asking about the mental acuity of the president … [You are] being rude to us by not answering … ‘Top of mind’ is not an answer.”
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