Biden slammed for cracking joke when asked if Christians were targeted during Nashville shooting
WASHINGTON (TND) — President Joe Biden made a joke Tuesday when asked whether he thought Christians had been targeted during the tragic shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, earning him some backlash from critics who argue it was insensitive.
"Do you think that Christians were targeted [in the Nashville shooting]?" Biden was asked by a reporter outside the White House.
"I have no idea," Biden responded initially.
"Josh Hawley believes they were. What do you say to that?" a reporter added.
"Well, I probably don't then," Biden responded with a smirk. "No, I'm joking. No, I have no idea."
The move earned President Biden backlash from his critics, including Sen. Josh Hawley himself, who suggested on the floor of the Senate Tuesday that the shooting at Nashville's Covenant School was a hate crime.
The National Desk (TND) sat down with Hawley Wednesday to discuss Biden's remarks further. To the lawmaker, the president's cracking of a joke was "shameful."
"Maybe he doesn't share their religious beliefs, I don't know. I don't know what his beliefs are, I don't particularly care. It's his obligation to protect everybody, whether he agrees with them or not," Hawley told TND. "As president, he ought to be out there calling for a full hate crime investigation, he ought to be on the ground comforting these parents, the families of these teachers, he ought to be out there doing something about it rather than eating ice cream and making jokes."
Biden was also criticized for making jokes about ice cream and other things Monday before mentioning the tragic events that unfolded earlier that day in Nashville during his first appearance following the shooting.
The shooting that took place Monday killed three nine-year-old students and three administrators at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
A motive for the attack remains uncertain, but the shooter, a transgender individual, reportedly attended the private Christian school previously and had some "resentment," according to Nashville police.
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