Joe Biden has said he was wrong when he described the suspected killer of nursing student Laken Riley as “illegal.”
Biden was pressured during Thursday’s State of the Union address by Georgia Republican Party representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to acknowledge the killing — but now says he regrets it.
In an interview scheduled to be shown Saturday, Biden was pressed by MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart about his use of the word “illegal.”
The president responded, “An undocumented person. I shouldn’t have used it illegally, it’s undocumented. And look, when I talked about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about at the border was his, the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people who are polluting the blood .
Joe Biden has told MSNBC he regrets calling the suspected killer of slain nursing student Laken Riley an ‘illegal’ in his State of the Union address
‘I have discussed what I am not going to do.
Which I won’t do. I’m not going to disrespect any of these people.
‘Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing. We need to control the border and make the flow more orderly, but I don’t share his opinion at all.’
Pressed by Capehart on whether he regretted using that word, Biden responded: “Yes.”
Riley, 22, was killed on February 22 while jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens.
Jose Ibarra – who was in the US illegally – has been arrested and charged with the murder of the Augusta University student.
The incident has put further pressure on Biden to get ahead of the worsening migration crisis as record numbers are intercepted crossing the southern border.
Immigration is seen as a key issue in November’s presidential election, with Biden’s likely Republican rival Donald Trump promising to take a tough stance.
Story is developed. Check back for updates…