Former President Donald Trump's decision to autograph a photograph of the slain student Laken Riley, then pose for a photo with a smile on his face, spurred harsh scorn from his critics on Tuesday.
Trump met with the family and friends of Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student killed while jogging in the earlier hours of Feb. 22, then shared a press release Monday with a parade of images from the visit.
"I met them, they're so incredible," reads Trump's takeaway. "The whole group is incredible."
Riley has become the focus of a conservative campaign for stricter border control because the man who stands accused of her murder, Jose Antonio Ibarra, is believed to have entered the country unlawfully, reports show.
"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 stated. "To her family tonight: I promise you I will demand justice for Laken. Justice for Laken."
But it was the photograph of Riley that Trump autographed that caught Americans' eyes on Tuesday, among them "Star Wars" star Mark Hamill.
"Nothing to see here, folks," Hamill tweeted. "Just a run-of-the-mill shot of a smiling ex-president grotesquely posing with a photo of a tragic victim of violence he thought appropriate to autograph."
"Ghoulish," reads a post by @DarickR. "All you need to know that they only care about the politics."
@BostonBrian23 took issue with the fact that Trump left the pen clipped to the photo: "You could’ve at least taken the sharpie off the autographed obituary photo."
"My God he autographed the photo of her 🤬🤬 Who does that," tweeted @Michell71078349.
But some sided with Trump for his effort.
"How disappointing President Biden hasn’t done the same. Instead he apologizes to the murderer for calling him an illegal," @Celestial_Word tweeted. "Now that’s sad."
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