Donald Trump gathered with Laken Riley’s family and friends for his rally in Rome, Georgia on Saturday.
The former president met backstage with people close to the now 22-year-old nursing student after she became a symbol of the southern border crisis when an illegal immigrant was charged with murder.
“We share your grief,” Trump said as he stood on stage to those he met backstage moments earlier, adding that Riley is “home with God in heaven.”
Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, entered the United States illegally in 2022. Trump says President Joe Biden “intentionally released” Ibarra into the country and says Riley would still be alive if he were president.
Trump spent part of his first speech since Super Tuesday restricting the southern border while decrying Biden’s policies and berating him for botching Laken Riley’s name during his State of the Union address on Thursday.
‘He misunderstood Laken’s name. Lincoln. I’m confusing her with the football coach,” Trump said in reference to University of Southern California football coach Lincoln Michael Riley.
‘Are we going crazy or what? Is this country going crazy?’ the former president said in reference to Biden’s policies.
Donald Trump met backstage at his Rome, Georgia rally on Saturday with Laken Riley’s family and friends, including the roommate who reported her missing when she went jogging last month and never returned
An illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was released into the country in 2022 is accused of killing Laken Riley, 22, as she was jogging near the campus of the University of Georgia, where she was studying to become a nurse.
Trump is also furious that Biden apologized Saturday for calling the illegal immigrant charged with killing Riley last month an “illegal.”
Speaking to MSNBC this weekend, Biden apologized for using the word when speaking last month about the man accused of killing Riley near the University of Georgia. Instead, the president said he should have used the term “undocumented,” which immigration activists and progressives prefer.
“He was an illegal alien, he was an illegal immigrant, he was an illegal migrant and he should never have been in this country and he should not have been under Trump’s policies,” the former president insisted.
He added that Biden has “no remorse, no remorse” and “must apologize for apologizing to this killer.”
Meanwhile, just an hour away, Biden appeared for a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, moments before Trump took the stage.
Trump told those close to the 22-year-old nursing student that he ‘shares your sorrow’
Supporters held up signs with Riley’s image and the message “say her name” after Biden incorrectly called her “Lincoln” during his State of the Union address on Thursday
Trump scolded Biden for coughing into his hand during his State of the Union address and imitated the president’s stutter during his first rally to kick off the general election.
“By far the most disgraceful of Joe Biden’s divisive and angry speech — so angry… he yells, screams and then coughs,” Trump said, before delivering a few fake coughs into his fist.
“And he always uses the right hand,” noted the former president, who has been called a germaphobe. “He’s getting off the stage, did you notice no one wanted to shake his hand?”
‘He always coughs into his hand. And it’s not a real cough, it’s a nervous habit. He has to stop. Because there was no real cough,” Trump said, this time with an even more dramatic dry fake cough for laughs.
Trump on Thursday pointed to several moments in Biden’s State of the Union address that angered him and demanded they debate.
Biden did have a stutter in his childhood, which still sometimes disrupts his speech. But his age and mumbling sometimes make it harder to understand him.
“Two nights ago we all heard Crooked Joe’s angry, dark, hateful rant about a State of the Union address. Didn’t it bring us together?’ Trump joked sarcastically.
He then mocked Biden with: Remember, he said, “I’m going to bring the country together. I’m going to put it together.’
‘No no. He is a threat to democracy.’
Trump mocked Biden during his rally in Georgia — and called out the president over his immigration policies
Biden coughed dryly into his fist several times during his State of the Union address on Thursday
Attendees at the Trump rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia on Saturday, March 9, 2024, hold posters depicting 22-year-old Laken Riley. An illegal immigrant was charged with her murder
Saturday’s event is the first rally after Trump’s last primary rival Nikki Haley conceded after last week’s heavy Super Tuesday losses. The former United Nations ambassador won only Vermont of the fifteen states that voted.
Trump’s rally in Georgia also marks the first time the former president had a chance to take the stage and respond after Biden’s final State of the Union address of this term.
Georgia is a swing state that is extremely important for achieving victory in the presidential elections in November. Trump won the southern state in 2016 with 50.4 percent of the vote, but the state turned blue in 2020 when Biden defeated him by just 0.3 percent.
One of the lawsuits against Trump for election fraud was filed in Georgia by liberal Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The former president claims this is a sham lawsuit and politically motivated case against him.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene entered the arena around 1 p.m. — four hours before Trump’s scheduled arrival — and received a standing ovation at the rally in her Georgia Congressional District 14, where many of the attendees are those she represents in the House.
The lawmaker walked around carrying a sign with an image of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging last month.
At least dozens — and perhaps hundreds — of attendees around the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, also held up the signs, the back of which read: “Remember our corners.”
Greene made comments around 3:30 p.m. slamming Biden for “butchering” Riley’s name during his State of the UNion — but credited him for saying an “illegal” killed her.
“One thing that happened this week at the State of the Union was when I saw Joe Biden walking down the aisle — I held up this pin,” the conservative lawmaker said, pointing to her button that read, “Laken Riley.” Say her name.’
“Because one of our girls, one of our lovely Americans, a beautiful 22-year-old girl studying to be a nurse, because all she wanted to do was help people. She wanted to help people all her life. And her life was taken by an illegal alien, a monster who should never have been in our country,” Greene added.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene received a warm welcome from rallygoers in her congressional district in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday. She and others held up “say her name” signs and an image featuring Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed last month by an illegal immigrant
But President Biden ruined her name after the young woman’s murder became a symbol of the border crisis.
In his annual State of the Union address, the president twice referred to the slain student as “Lincoln” while holding up MTG’s pin with her name.
“When I saw Joe Biden, I showed him this pin and said, ‘Say her name. Say her name. Say her name. Laken Riley. Say her name.’ And during his speech, after almost fifty minutes, he had stopped talking about the open border. He hadn’t even mentioned it. So I shouted for my seat, “Say her name!” the congressman said.
“And then he butchered her name, he mispronounced it – he didn’t even say it right, he said ‘Lincoln.’ Her name is Laken, Laken Riley,” she added. ‘But do you want to know what he said? He said she was an American, killed by an illegal alien. That’s right. Even Joe Biden was forced to tell the truth. That is the truth.’
The Forum in Rome, Georgia is about an hour north of Atlanta and has a capacity of about 4,000 people for an event set up like Trump’s rally.