President Biden during a State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"And I shouldn't have used illegal, I should've… It's undocumented," Biden said. "And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his – the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I'm not going to do, what I won't do. I'm not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing, we have to control the border and more orderly flow."
During his State of the Union address, Biden – while acknowledging his endorsement by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain – said, "Wall Street didn’t build America. They’re not bad guys. They didn’t build it, though. The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class."
Trump supporters hold images of Laken Riley before he speaks at a "Get Out the Vote" rally in Rome, Georgia, on March 9, 2024. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images)
The juxtaposition also drew condemnation from another X user, who wrote, "Did president @JoeBiden just say the illegal's, I mean undocumented immigrants built this country? The @WhiteHouse needs to explain this…. My great grand parents [were] born in this nation in slavery!"
LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT'S SECOND BROTHER WAS TWICE DEPORTED BEFORE SETTLING IN GEORGIA
Former President Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, slammed Biden's apology at a rally. Torching Biden for mixing Laken's name up with USC head football coach, Lincoln Riley, Trump lamented that Biden "went on television and apologized for calling Laken's murderer an illegal," drawing boos from the crowd.
"They have a new name that’s even worse. You know what the new name is? Neighbor," Trump said. "A newcomer to our country… are we going crazy or what? Is this country going crazy? How about that one, newcomer… no, he was an illegal. And I say he was an illegal alien. He was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal migrant. And he shouldn’t have been in our country, and he never would have been under the Trump policy."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who had challenged Biden during the State of the Union to say Riley's name, also criticized Biden's apology for the term "illegal."
"Disgusting. Joe Biden just apologized to the illegal alien animal who brutally murdered Laken Riley," Greene wrote on X.
Trump met with Riley's parents at his rally Saturday, the same day Biden's interview apology aired.
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
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