‘Where’s Jackie?’: Joe Biden asks if deceased lawmaker is at White House event

Written Michael D. Shear
US President Joe Biden looked in the audience on Wednesday for Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., during a White House conference on ending hunger, apparently forgetting that Walorski had died last month.
“Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?” Biden said as he thanked lawmakers who had sponsored legislation on the hunger issue. The president appeared to be confused at her absence and said something under his breath about whether she had planned to be at the event.
In fact, Walorski was killed Aug. 3 in a car accident in her drict, along with two of her congressional aides, when a vehicle she was in collided head-on with another. The driver of the oncoming car was also killed.
Biden did not correct himself during the remarks, but the incident quickly went viral on Twitter and other social media platforms, with some people seizing on the moment as evidence that Biden, who is 79, lacks the mental capacity to be president.
The president’s political opponents have been pushing that attack since he took office. White House officials have consently rejected the charge, saying Biden remains intellectually engaged and sharp.

“Jackie, are you here?”
US President Joe Biden publicly sought out Indiana Congresswoman Jackie Walorski — who died in a car accident in August — during a conference on September 28, seeming to forget that she had passed away pic.twitter.com/ryAt5dXPSE
— TRT World (@trtworld) September 29, 2022
After Walorski’s death last month, the White House put out a statement in Biden’s name saying that the president and the first lady were “shocked and saddened” her death. The statement, just hours after the crash, said that “my team and I appreciated her partnership as we plan for a horic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health this fall that will be marked her deep care for the needs of rural America.”
It was at that conference Wednesday that Biden appeared to believe that she was in attendance.
After the president’s remarks, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, refused to acknowledge that Biden had misspoken or that he had forgotten that Walorski had died.
Instead, Jean-Pierre repeatedly said that the congresswoman was “top of mind” for Biden because he was honouring lawmakers who had worked on the hunger issue.
She said Biden was not only aware of Walorski’s death, but that he was also looking forward to meeting with her family when he signs legislation to name an Indiana veterans health facility in her name.
US Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (Reuters, file)
“The president was naming the congressional champions on this issue and was acknowledging her incredible work,” Jean-Pierre said. “He had already planned to welcome the congresswoman’s family to the White House on Friday — they will be at a bill signing in her honor this coming Friday. So of course, she was on his mind. She was top of mind for the president.”
Reporters asked repeatedly why Biden would appear to look for Walorski in the audience if her death was “top of mind” and he was thinking of the upcoming meeting with her family.
“The confusing part is, why, if she and the family is top of mind, does the president think that she’s living and in the room?” one reporter asked.
“I don’t find that confusing,” Jean-Pierre responded. “I mean, I think many people can speak to: Sometimes when you have someone top of mind, they are top of mind, exactly that.”
Jean-Pierre appeared to get frustrated the repeated questions about Biden’s remarks. Asked whether there was something written in the teleprompter that confused the president during his remarks, she said that was not the case.
“You’re jumping to a lot of conclusions,” she said to the reporter. “I just answered the question. If that had been the case, I would have stated that.”
Jean-Pierre said she did not see the need to dribute the president’s remarks as they were prepared ahead of delivery, saying, “I’m not understanding why that would be necessary.”
At the end of her daily briefing, Jean-Pierre gave her final answer to the question.
“I’ve answered it multiple times already in this room, and my answer is certainly not going to change,” she said. “All of you may have views on how I’m answering it, but I am answering the question to the way that he saw it. And the way that we see it.”