Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) defended President Joe Biden for not attending the wake of the late NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller despite being in town at the time.
While Biden held a $26 million fundraiser at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, his main political rival Donald Trump attended the wake. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined Biden at the event. Khanna dismissed Biden’s absence from the wake in Queens during an interview on Fox News Sunday.
“My heart goes out to the slain police officer’s family and his sacrifice for the community and the country, and I don’t want to in any way diminish that,” Khanna said. “I think President Biden’s event with President Clinton and President Obama was about unifying the Democratic Party showing that this Democratic Party is going to be energized and inspired and is going to be prepared to win in 2024.”
Khanna did sneak in a call to action for the president, as the White House has not confirmed whether Biden has called Diller’s family since was he shot and killed Monday while performing a traffic stop on an illegally parked car. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that Biden offered his support to New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a phone call since the incident.
“But of course, the president should convey his condolences to that family, and I’m sure he will,” Khanna said.
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Biden’s fundraising event followed a reported $56 million money grab in February, bringing his total cash reserves to an estimated $155 million. It included remarks from writer and actress Mindy Kaling and musical performances from singer and actor Ben Platt and pop star Lizzo. Since her performance, Lizzo has implied that she quit the music industry following backlash from her performance.
Diller’s suspected shooter, Guy Rivera, 34, had been arrested 21 times before the shooting and is now facing murder charges and attempted murder charges for aiming to shoot Diller’s partner.
