GOP Sen. Josh Hawley lambasted President Joe Biden as a “disgrace” after he laughed at a reporter’s question as to whether or not he considers the murder of Christian students in Nashville by a transgender individual a hate crime back in late March.
At the time, a reporter questioned Biden on the White House lawn if he agreed with Hawley’s sentiment. “Do you think that Christians were targeted?” the reporter asked at the time.
Biden replied with a smirk on his face and laughed: “Well then I doubt that. No, I’m joking. I have no idea.”
Nashville police killed the shooter, identified as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, amid her rampage at the school. She used two “assault-style” rifles and a pistol in her rampage at the Covenant School. The Presbyterian school has approximately 200 students, ranging from preschool through Sixth Grade. Hale killed three nine-year-old students and three adults.
Hawley sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking them to examine the massacre as a hate crime. Hawley wrote:
“Federal law explicitly criminalizes acts of violence against individuals based on religious affiliation as hate crimes. … According to Nashville law enforcement, Hale’s attack was both premeditated and ‘targeted’ against this Christian school, its students and employees. Nashville police chief John Drake announced yesterday that ‘we have a manifesto, we have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident … We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place.’ Moreover, police detectives believe that Hale had “some resentment for having to go to that school.
He continued: “I urge you to immediately open an investigation into this shooting as a federal hate crime.”
Joe Biden Playing Politics over This?
The president of the United States is traditionally said to be regarded as the “Comforter in Chief”; however, Biden chose partisanship over fulfilling that self-proclaimed role.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie condemned the inappropriateness of the president’s insensitive remark at the time.
“To say that he misunderstood the moment would be an understatement,” Christie told Fox News back in late March.
“There’s no way to talk about something like this except to say that for all of us who are parents, what we dread every day is the news about the health and life of our children.”
Christie added: “And so there’s no room to joke in that circumstance at all. And certainly not from the President of the United States.”
Hawley likewise called Biden’s remarks “beneath the dignity of the presidency” during an appearance on Fox News with Laura Ingraham at the time.
John Rossomando’s work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award in 2008 for his reporting. He writes conservative opinion columns for this publication.
