In Joe Biden's overtly partisan State of the Union address, the most defining moment that lingers was his mispronunciation of the name of "Laken" Riley. The White House has largely avoided addressing the tragic murder of the 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia at the hands of an illegal immigrant who entered the United States under Biden's open borders policies, but Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene successfully forced him to acknowledge the story.
And then he called her “Lincoln."
“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley,” Biden said. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
But it is what he said next that I want to talk about.
It was widely reported that his next line was, “That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people are being killed by illegals?"
When I first reported on the flub, I listened to the entire exchange multiple times to ensure I had transcribed it correctly, since it was was unscripted and not a part of his prepared remarks. What I heard was, “That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people are being killed by legals?” and reported it that way.
Well, the White House has decided to settle the question about what Biden said with the official White House transcript of the speech.
A lot of places reported that Biden said "illegals."
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) March 9, 2024
The official White House transcript of the State of the Union says he said "legals," apparently thinking this was better.
Yikes. pic.twitter.com/N7Wjt2WZ60
Imagine, Joe Biden is actually trying to appear like he cares about border security, and when he's finally coaxed into acknowledging Laken Riley's murder, and acknowledging how the border crisis has brought more crime into this country, he decides to downplay her death by suggesting the problem of American citizens being killed by other American citizens is worse. The only reason he would make this argument is because he knows that Laken Riley's killer was in this country because of his open border policies. If Donald Trump were still president, Laken Riley would still be alive. And for Biden to try to deflect criticism for his culpability in Laken's murder at the same time he finally acknowledges her, he not only got her name wrong, but is just pure evil.
Related: Need More Proof Biden Was Drugged for the State of the Union? Here It Is.
The White House clearly tried to cover for Biden by changing his flub of Laken's name to "Lanken" instead of "Lincoln" even though everyone heard "Lincoln," and they no doubt knew that most people in the media were reporting that Biden said "That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people are being killed by illegals?" which, was weird, but, at the same time, not as bad, because at least it sounded like Biden was speaking to the broader problem of crime being brought into the country through the border.
I heard "legals" but a lot of people thought he said (or meant) illegals. Frankly, I would have expected the White House to just claim Biden said "illegals" because, while it didn't make much sense, it was better than the alternative.
Biden is trying really, really hard to flip the script and gain the upper hand on the immigration issue, and yet, every time he tries, he proves it will never work.
