President Biden appears to forget about Rep. Jackie Walorski's death
President Biden appears to forget about Rep. Jackie Walorski's death
Some liberal networks skipped on-air coverage of one of President Biden's most stunning gaffes to date when he forgot about the death of Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., repeatedly searching the crowd for her and calling her name while on stage.
While much of the news cycle on Wednesday was dedicated to Hurricane Ian's havoc on Florida, Biden created a firestorm on social media following remarks he made at the White House's Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, where he gave a shout-out to Walorski.
"Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie? She must not be here," Biden said as he searched for her in the crowd before continuing his speech.
Walorski died in a car accident last month along with two staffers, which Biden acknowledged in a statement released after her passing. She had played a key role in Wednesday's conference before her tragic death.
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President Biden speaks at the White House Conference On Hunger, Nutrition And Health in Washington on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Yuri Gripas/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The controversy continued in the White House briefing room, where Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to acknowledge that the president made any error, repeatedly telling reporters Walorski was "top of mind" as Biden is scheduled to meet her family at a White House ceremony on Friday.
Several reporters, including ABC News' Cecilia Vega, CNN's Phil Mattingly and CBS News' Steven Portnoy, grilled Jean-Pierre on her non-answers.
However, the networks they work for largely avoided airtime on the bizarre gaffe.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was repeatedly asked why President Biden was looking for the late Congresswoman Jackie Walorski during an event earlier in the day. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
NewsBusters analyst Kevin Tober noticed that none of the three evening broadcasts, ABC's "World News Tonight," "CBS Evening News" nor "NBC Nightly News," made any mention of Biden's remarks.
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"All three evening newscasts ignored the latest gaffe from our apparently senile President," Tober wrote. "The terrible combination of Joe Biden's almost daily gaffes and Karine Jean-Pierre's stunning inability to put together a coherent sentence makes it obvious why the leftist news networks have no interest in covering the administration's never-ending list of incompetence and failures."
Rep. Jackie Walorski participates in a House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee hearing on July 18, 2018. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
ABC News and NBC News did manage to cover the story on their websites after failing to mention it on their evening newscasts. The controversy, however, was later mentioned on ABC's "The View" Thursday after the three networks went all-in on Hurricane Ian during the morning news programs. The liberal "View" hosts were largely defensive of Biden throughout the discussion.
CNN and MSNBC went completely wall-to-wall with Hurricane Ian coverage, leaving no room to address the president's gaffe on the air. The word "Jackie" was not uttered once on CNN or MSNBC from the time of Biden’s gaffe through 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, according to a search of transcripts via Grabien Media.
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MSNBC's "Morning Joe" managed to make time to cover the latest legal drama with former President Trump on Thursday but not for Biden's comments.
CNN covered the story online with an analysis piece headlined, "Joe Biden’s latest gaffe plays right into Republicans’ hands."
Walorski, 58, and her staffers, communications director Emma Thomson, 28, and district director Zachary Potts, 27, were all killed in the Aug. 3 crash.
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.