The president appeared to forget that Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski had died in a car crash when he called out for her at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health last week
President Joe Biden met with the family of Rep. Jackie Walorski after a recent speaking gaffe called his relationship to the late representative into question.
While delivering opening remarks at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health on Sept. 28, Biden mistakenly called out for Walorski, an Indiana Republican who co-sponsored a bill to fund the conference before her death.
“Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?” he asked, looking out into the audience of approximately 500 people. “She was going to be here.”
Walorski died on Aug. 3 when her car crashed near Nappanee, Indiana. Walorski’s communications director, 28-year-old Emma Thomson, and St. Joseph County Republican Party Chair Zachery Potts, 27, also died in the head-on collision, as did the driver of the other vehicle.
Following the accident, the White House lowered its flags to half-staff and the Bidens issued a joint statement on her death, adding insult to injury when President Biden seemed to forget why she was not in attendance.
Two days after the gaffe, Biden met with the Walorski family in the Oval Office to apologize, The New York Post reported. The meeting — which included Walorski’s mother, Martha Walorski; brother Keith Walorski; and husband, Dean Swihart — lasted about a half-hour, according to the outlet.
“He did apologize for the ‘Where’s Jackie?’ comment and our family assured him we have no hard feelings,” Keith told the Post. “We forgive him for his gaffe.”
As for Walorski’s mother, “She said, ‘Well, Mr. President, we can tell you where Jackie is. She’s in heaven with Jesus,'” Keith recalled.
Last week, shortly after the president misspoke, Keith shared with the Post that Biden called family members in August when Walorski was killed and “was very sincere” because “he knows all about” grief.
“All I’m saying right now about the president is bless his heart for trying,” Keith said. “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.”
The White House did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment about the private meeting.
Following the conversation, Biden signed H.R. 8656 into law, renaming a Veterans Affairs clinic in Mishawka, Indiana, the Jackie Walorski VA Clinic.
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