Former President Donald Trump pledged that there will be “justice” for slain nursing student Laken Riley during a speech where he blamed her killing on President Joe Biden.
While speaking at a rally in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday evening, Trump lashed out at Biden over the death of Riley, whose body was found in a wooded area near the University of Georgia last month. Police have charged Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela, in the 22-year-old nursing student’s slaying.
“Laken Riley would be alive today if Joe Biden had not willfully and maliciously eviscerated the borders of the United States and set loose thousands and thousands of dangerous criminals into our country,” Trump said. “To her family tonight. I promise you I will demand justice for Laken. Justice for Laken.”
Several of Riley’s loved ones met with the former president, he told the crowd. During the campaign stop, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, also criticized Biden over his recent remarks regarding Ibarra.
Two days after breaking his silence on Riley’s killing at his State of the Union (SOTU) address, Biden said he shouldn’t have referred to the suspect as an “illegal” immigrant but rather “undocumented.”
Newsweek reached out via email on Saturday to representatives for Trump and Biden for comment.
Elijah Nouvelage / AFP/Getty
This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.