Donald Trump met with Laken Riley’s family and friends before his rally in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday.
The former president met backstage with people close to the deceased 22-year-old nursing student after she became a symbol of the southern border crisis when an illegal immigrant was charged with her murder.
“We share your pain,” Trump said while onstage to those he met backstage moments earlier, adding that Riley is “at home with God in heaven.”
Venezuelan citizen José Antonio Ibarra, 26, entered the United States illegally in 2022. Trump says President Joe Biden ‘intentionally released’ Ibarra into the country and says Riley would still be alive if he were president.
Trump spent much of his first speech since Super Tuesday focusing on the southern border while criticizing Biden’s policies and criticizing him for botching Laken Riley’s name during his State of the Union address on Thursday.
He got Laken’s name wrong. Lincoln. Mistaking her for the football coach,” Trump said, referring to University of Southern California football coach Lincoln Michael Riley.
‘Are we going crazy or what? Is this country going crazy? the former president said in reference to Biden’s policies.
Donald Trump met backstage at his rally in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday with Laken Riley’s family and friends, including the roommate who reported her missing when he went out for a run last month and never returned.
An illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was released into the country in 2022 is accused of murdering Laken Riley, 22, when she was jogging near the University of Georgia campus where she was studying nursing.
Trump is also furious that Biden apologized Saturday for calling the illegal immigrant accused of murdering Riley last month “illegal.”
Speaking with MSNBC this weekend, Biden apologized for using the word when talking about the man charged with Riley’s murder near the University of Georgia last month. Instead, the president said he should have used the term “undocumented,” which is preferred by immigration activists and progressives.
“He was an illegal alien, he was an illegal immigrant, he was an illegal immigrant and he should never have been in this country and he would not have been under Trump’s policies,” the former president insisted.
He added that Biden “has no remorse or regrets” and “should apologize for apologizing to this killer.”
Meanwhile, Biden appeared just an hour later for a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, just before Trump took the stage.
Trump told those close to the 22-year-old nursing student that he “shares your pain”
Her supporters held signs with Riley’s image and the message “say her name” after Biden mistakenly called her “Lincoln” during his State of the Union on Thursday.
Trump scolded Biden for coughing into his hand during his State of the Union address and imitated the president’s stutter at his first rally that kicked off the general election fight.
“By far Joe Biden’s most embarrassing and divisive speech: so angry… he yells and screams and then coughs,” Trump said, then let out a few fake coughs into his fist.
“And he always uses his right hand,” said the former president, who has been described as a germaphobe. ‘He gets off the stage, did you notice that no one wanted to shake his hand?’
“He’s always coughing into his hand. And it’s not a real cough, it’s a nervous habit. It has to stop. Because there was no real cough,” Trump said, this time emitting an even more dramatic and dry fake cough in response to laughter.
Trump pointed to several moments in Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday that angered him and demanded a debate.
It is true that Biden had a childhood stutter that sometimes still hinders his speech. But his age and his muttering have also made it harder to understand him at times.
‘Two nights ago we all heard Crooked Joe’s angry, dark, hateful tirade in a State of the Union address. Didn’t that bring us together? Trump joked sarcastically.
He then mocked Biden, saying: Remember he said, ‘I’m going to unite the country.’ I’m going to put it together.’
‘No no. It is a threat to democracy.
Trump mocked Biden during his rally in Georgia and criticized the president for his immigration policies.
Biden coughed several times into his fist during his State of the Union address on Thursday.
Attendees at Trump’s rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, Saturday, March 9, 2024, hold signs with images of Laken Riley, 22. An illegal immigrant was charged with her murder.
Saturday’s event is the first rally after Trump’s latest primary challenger, Nikki Haley, conceded her losses on last week’s Super Tuesday. The former United Nations ambassador only won Vermont among the 15 states that voted.
Trump’s rally in Georgia is also the first time the former president had the opportunity to take the stage and respond after Biden’s final State of the Union address of this term.
Georgia is a swing state of enormous importance for achieving victory in the November presidential elections. Trump won the southern state in 2016 with 50.4 percent of the vote, but it turned blue in 2020 when Biden beat him by just 0.3 percent.
One of the voter fraud lawsuits against Trump was filed in Georgia by liberal Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The former president claims this is a false lawsuit and a politically motivated case against him.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene entered the arena around 1 p.m., four hours before Trump was scheduled to arrive, and received a standing ovation at the rally in her Georgia 14th congressional district, where many of the attendees are those whom she represents in the House.
The lawmaker walked with a sign with an image of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging last month.
At least dozens (and perhaps hundreds) of attendees around the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, also held signs that on the back read: “Remember our angles.”
Greene made comments around 3:30 p.m. criticizing Biden for “butchering” Riley’s name during his State of the UN address, but gave him credit for saying an “illegal” killed her.
“One thing that happened during the State of the Union this week is that 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 his name.
‘Because one of our girls, one of our sweet Americans, a beautiful 22-year-old girl who studied nursing because all she wanted to do was help people. She just wanted to help people throughout her life. And her life was taken by an illegal alien, a monster who should never have been in our country,” Greene added.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene received a warm welcome from rally-goers in her congressional district in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday. She and others held signs that said “say her name” and a picture of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered last month by an illegal immigrant.
But President Biden got her name wrong after the young woman’s murder became a symbol of the border crisis.
Speaking to millions of Americans at his annual State of the Union address, the president twice called the slain student “Lincoln” while holding the MTG pin bearing her name.
“When I saw Joe Biden, I showed him this pin and said, ‘Say his name.’ Say his name. Say his name. Laken Riley. Say his name. And then during his speech, after almost 50 minutes, he didn’t speak of the open border. I hadn’t even mentioned it. Then I shouted for my seat: ‘Say his name!’ the congresswoman said.
‘And then he butchered his name, he pronounced it wrong, he didn’t even say it right, he said ‘Lincoln.’ His name is Laken, Laken Riley,” she added. —But do you want to know what she said? She said she was an American murdered by an illegal. That’s how it is. Even Joe Biden was forced to tell the truth. That’s the truth.’
The Forum in Rome, Georgia, is about an hour north of Atlanta and has a capacity of about 4,000 people for an event organized like the Trump rally.