Brother of Late GOP Rep. Says He’s Not Angry at Biden for Forgetting She Died: ‘I’m Not Gonna Hold It Against Him’

Kipp JonesSep 28th, 2022, 7:15 pm
 

Joe Biden Asks About Jackie Walorski

The brother of late Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) said he feels pity for President Joe Biden, who made headlines Wednesday after he apparently forgot the conservative lawmaker died last month in a car crash.

Walorski, 58, was among four people killed on Aug. 3 in Elkhart County, Indiana as the result of a head-on collision.

Nonetheless, Biden asked about her at a White House conference on food insecurity with a bipartisan group of legislators. The issue was close to Walorski’s heart, and she was a cosponsor of the conference before her tragic death.

Biden thanked a group of lawmakers after they had paid tribute to Walorski.

“Jackie, you here?” Biden asked. “Where’s Jackie? I didn’t think she was – she was going to be here.”

The gaffe generated substantial media coverage, and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was peppered with questions about it at her daily media briefing.

Asked about the awkward moment by the New York Post, Walorski’s brother, Keith Walorski said he believes Biden is “doing the best he can do with what he’s got right now.”

“It’s par for the course,” Walorski said. “I feel sorry for him, really.”

Keith Walorski added:

He made a phone call after my sister was killed and he was very sincere in his relaying the grief process because he’s been through that grief process, he knows all about it… All I’m saying right now about the president is bless his heart for trying. Yeah, it was a big mess-up today. Inexcusable? No. Unforgivable? No. I’m not gonna hold it against him. I just feel sorry for him.

He said describing the president as “forgetful” is “a nice way of putting it.”

“I don’t think anybody would look at the things that he’s done and said and say that his mind is as sharp as it used to be,” he concluded.

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