As she has in past years, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene heckled Biden during his address. This time, Biden responded.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shouts at President Joe Biden as he delivers the State of the Union address.
Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images
As Biden discussed the bipartisan border deal that was blocked by Senate Republicans, Greene repeatedly shouted “Say her name” in a reference to Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia in Athens who was killed in February. A Venezuelan man who entered the US illegally in 2022 was charged with murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and kidnapping in connection with her death, The New York Times reported.As Greene continued yelling, Biden went off-script and responded to her directly, holding up a pin with Riley’s name worn by several Republican lawmakers in the House chamber.”Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right,” Biden said, mispronouncing her name as Lincoln.He also expressed his condolences to Riley’s parents, “having lost children myself.”Biden’s use of the term “illegal” dismayed some Democrats.”As a proud immigrant, I’m extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal,'” Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Democrat from Illinois, wrote on X.
