The mother of the late congresswoman Jackie Walorski told Joe Biden that her daughter was in “heaven with Jesus” after the president apologized for mistakenly calling for Walorski during public remarks last week despite her death in August.
During a private meeting in the Oval Office with the Walorski family on Friday, Biden apologized for a gaffe he made during a summit on food insecurity on 28 September, when he called into the audience to see if Walorski was in attendance, as the Republican representative from Indiana had served as co-chairperson of the House Hunger Caucus.
“Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? She must not be here,” Biden said, seeming to forget, or be unaware, that Walorski had died. The congresswoman was killed in an August car accident in Indiana.
When asked about Biden’s confusion, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, downplayed the president’s mistake, calling his comments “not all that unusual”.
Jean-Pierre added that Biden was acknowledging the congresswoman’s work and keeping her “top of mind” because he would be meeting with her family later that week.
But the blunder still raised questions about Biden’s mental acuity.
Biden met with the Walorski family on Friday to privately apologize, with the conversation lasting about 30 minutes, the New York Post reported.
“He did apologize for the ‘Where’s Jackie?’ comment and our family assured him we have no hard feelings. We forgive him for his gaffe,” the late congresswoman’s brother, Keith Walorski, said to the Post.
While speaking to the president, the late congresswoman’s mother, Martha “Mert” Walorski, told Biden that her daughter was in heaven when he asked for her.
“She said, ‘Well, Mr President, we can tell you where Jackie is – she’s in heaven with Jesus,’” Keith Walorski said. “[Biden] could only agree. He’s a very Catholic person. He’s very strong in his Catholicism. So all he could do is say, ‘Yes, you’re right. I know.’”
After the private meeting, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other lawmakers joined Biden and Walorskis to sign a bill renaming an Indiana Veterans Affairs clinic after Jackie Walorski.
Keith Walorski said Biden and his staff were “very, very good” to his family but they do not plan on voting for him in 2024 because they strongly disagree with his policy.
“Most of the Biden agenda is not what you would call a conservative Christian agenda,” Keith Walorski said. “That’s who we are.”
