Speaking near the U.S. border with Mexico on Thursday, former President Donald Trump revealed that he had done something that current President Joe Biden apparently had not — and something that, according to Trump, Biden would never do.
Trump said that he’d spoken to the parents of 22-year-old murder victim Laken Riley, who was brutally murdered on Feb. 22, allegedly by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Biden, who was also near the southern border, but near Brownsville, Texas, appeared to avoid questions regarding Riley’s murder or the man charged with it, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra.
Trump referred to her murder as “barbaric” and described Riley multiple times as “beautiful.”
“She was a beautiful woman; she was a great person, best nursing student there was,” he said. “I spoke to her parents yesterday. They are incredible people. They’re devastated beyond belief.
“But she was beautiful, just so beautiful in so many ways,” the former president added. “And brutally assaulted, horrifically beaten, kidnapped and savagely murdered.”
Trump then went on to blame Biden’s immigration policies for Riley’s death, calling the president “crooked.”
“The monster charged in the death is an illegal alien migrant who was let into our country and released into our communities by Crooked Joe Biden. He’s crooked. I took the name away from Hillary, because she’s no longer relevant, I guess. She was terrible, but he’s — what he’s doing is just unbelievable.
Do you support Donald Trump?
“Joe Biden will never say Laken Riley’s name, but we will say it, and we will remember it,” Trump declared.
“We’re not going to forget her,” he said.
“It’s been just a horrible story that we’ve had to live with for the last few days. It’s hard to believe. And her parents are just — they can never be the same. Great people,” he added.
You can see Trump deliver his remarks below.
WATCH: At the border, Trump says he has spoken to the parents of Laken Riley, who was bludgeoned to death by an illegal alien
“Joe Biden will never say Laken Riley’s name, but we will say it.” pic.twitter.com/pHlsvwL2Wy
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 29, 2024
Trump may have been more right than he knew, as Newsweek reported that Biden avoided a question Thursday about his responsibility for Riley’s death.
“Mr. President, do you bear any responsibility for Laken Riley’s death?” an unidentified person yelled at Biden as he was leaving the podium after a news conference in Brownsville, according to the outlet.
Newsweek said that it was unclear whether Biden had even heard the question, which a post to X by former Trump adviser Steve Cortes identified as being shouted out by Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins.
🚨Pathetic:@GriffJenkins: “Mr. President, do you bear any responsibility for Laken Riley’s death?”
Joe Biden: *Refuses to answer*
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) February 29, 2024
“Ibarra was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another,” Newsweek noted. “He is being held in Athens-Clarke County jail.”
