US President Joe Biden on Wednesday publicly sought out Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Congresswoman who died in a car accident in August, during a conference on hunger, seeming to forget that she had passed away.
Biden thanked other conference organizers and then asked, "Jackie are you here? Where's Jackie?" He then moved past the incident without any correction, according to Reuters.
Walorski, a Republican, was one of four Congressional co-sponsors of the bill to fund the conference. She was killed with two staffers in early August.
Biden moved past the issue without any correction. After Walorski's death, the White House issued a statement from Biden that said he and his wife Jill were "shocked and saddened" by her sudden accident.
Asked later in the day about the incident, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the President was “acknowledging her incredible work.”
She added that Biden had already planned to welcome the congresswoman's family to the White House for a bill signing on Friday. “She was on top of mind,” Jean-Pierre said.