UPDATE: The White House is spinning the situation this way:
"She was at top of mind..."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 28, 2022
That's how the Biden White House is attempting to explain away Joe Biden's inquiry about the whereabouts of Republican Representative Jackie Walorski who passed away in early August. pic.twitter.com/kL6pswJfGC
***Original post***
Speaking to the crowd during a White House event on hunger, nutrition and health Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden asked a number of times where "Jackie" was. He was referring to Republican Congresswoman Jackie Walorski, who was killed in a car accident with two staffers earlier this year.
Joe Biden asks around the audience to point out "Jackie" during a conference on hunger, nutrition, and health.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 28, 2022
Is he referring to Republican Representative Jackie Walorski, who passed away in a car accident in early August? pic.twitter.com/pSRkQLQJYU
Biden made the statement after a tribute to Walorski, who dedicated her life to the issue, was played at the event.
A tribute video honoring the late Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) will play during the White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health today. She was a major advocate for the effort and among a handful of Rs who stuck behind it, even when the politics grew tough.
— Meredith Lee Hill (@meredithllee) September 28, 2022
Further, Biden issued a statement in August about Walorski after she died and ordered the flags at the White House to be flown at half-mast.
"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," Biden said in a statement released by the White House Press Office. "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," he continued.
Two weeks ago, legislation naming a Veterans Affairs clinic in Indiana after Walorski landed on Biden's desk for signature.
Senate passed legislation by unanimous consent to rename the Veterans Affairs Department clinic in Mishawaka, Indiana as the “Jackie Walorski VA Clinic” in honor of the late Indiana GOP Congresswoman. Bill passed the House last month by voice vote & now heads to President Biden. https://t.co/Z5wcNCBt92 pic.twitter.com/Ip8caG2VBT
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) September 8, 2022
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