Biden Speaks Movingly to Billy Evans’ Family at Slain Capitol Policeman’s Memorial: ‘He’s Still With You’

President Joe Biden spoke with empathy and emotion at a memorial service for slain Capitol Police Officer William “Billy” Evans’ memorial service, telling the family that their departed loved one is “still with you.”

Officer Evans was memorialized in the Capitol Tuesday, where the president followed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with a ten-minute speech that drew heavily on President Biden’s own familiarity with grief.

Biden began by expressing sorrow at once again having to mark such an occasion so soon after the Capitol insurrection, and then spoke about the character of Officer Evans. The slain officer’s children, Logan and Abigail Evans, and their mother Shannon Terranova, sat a few feet from the president as he spoke.

“I didn’t know Billy but I knew Billy. I grew up with Billys in Claymont and Scranton, Pennsylvania,” Biden said. “Billy was always the kid that you know if you got in a fight you were outnumbered 3-1, he would jump in knowing you would both get beaten.”

He spoke at great length about his own experiences with grief and the gradual way in which the pain of grief is eventually overtaken with moments of joy.

“Next you’re all going to know that you’re going to make it,” Biden said. “By holding each other together, most importantly by holding the Logan and Abigail as tightly as you can.”

“Because as long as you have them, you’ve got Billy. As long as you have them,” he said. “You know, and I pray for all of you is that the day will come when you have that memory, and like I said you smile before you bring a tear to your eye. I promise you it’s going to come. It just takes a while. It takes a while. But when it comes, you will know. Because he’s still with you. He’s still in your heart.”

Watch the speech above via CNN.