House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “disgraceful” that President Biden appeared to apologize to Laken Riley’s killer rather than the slain student’s family.
“The president is cowering in his camp and showing respect to a man of no value. This man is an illegal immigrant who brutally murdered Laken Riley. President Biden should apologize to Laken’s family. What a shame. ” Johnson wrote on Sunday’s X in response to Biden’s interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart that aired on Saturday.
In an off-script moment during Thursday’s State of the Union address, Biden blamed “illegal actors” for Riley’s killing, at the urging of Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. The president later recanted in an interview with Capehart, instead using the term “undocumented” to describe José Ibarra, the Venezuelan man charged with killing Riley, an Augusta University nursing student who was on the run at the University of Georgia. He said he should have used the word “no.” Campus last month.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Ybarra crossed the border illegally near El Paso, Texas, and was released to the U.S. for further processing in September 2022.
He was later arrested in New York City on child endangerment charges and released about a year later.
The Athens-Clarke County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Ybarra and his brother were arrested on shoplifting charges in Georgia in October 2023, months before Riley was killed.
According to an affidavit filed on February 23, Ybarra is charged with malice murder, murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another, and physically interfering with a 911 call. He has been charged with a misdemeanor. Ibarra is accused of “injuring” Riley’s skull, according to the indictment.
“I shouldn’t have used illegal means, I should have… It’s not documented,” Biden told Capehart. “And, look, when I talked about my differences with Trump, one of the things I talked about at the border is his – the way he talks about pests, the way he talks about people contaminating blood. We talked about what we wouldn’t do and what we wouldn’t do. I don’t mean to treat any of these people with disrespect. You know, they built the country.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of Laken Riley’s murder
It is noteworthy that former President Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, strongly criticized Biden’s apology at the rally.
President Trump slammed Biden for confusing Riley’s first name with Lincoln Riley, the University of Southern California football head coach, and said that Biden “appeared on TV and called Laken’s murderer an illegal offender.” I apologized for calling him out,” he said, drawing boos from the audience.
Speaking with Riley’s parents backstage at the rally, Trump was even more selective about his choice of words.
“They gave us a new name that’s even worse. Do you know what the new name is? Neighbor,” President Trump said. “Newcomers to our country… are we going crazy or what?” Is this country going crazy? How about that, “new guy”… no, he was an illegal. And he says he was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal immigrant. And he shouldn’t have been in our country, and he shouldn’t have been under Trump policies. ”
Biden addressed Riley’s parents during his State of the Union address and also asked, “But how many thousands of people are being killed in court?”
“To her parents, I say this: My heart goes out to you. I’ve lost a child myself, so I understand,” he said.
