President Joe Biden Bans Cameras From Bill Signing Days After Asking To Speak To Dead State Representative

President Joe Biden welcomed the family of recently deceased state representative Jackie Walorski to a bill signing on Friday, September 30 — but cameras were not as welcome to the somber event. The bill will allow a Veterans Affairs clinic to be named after the late Republican.

This comes days after Biden shocked a crowd when he appeared to forget the Indiana Rep. passed away in a car accident in early August, and asked for her to identify herself in an audience while speaking at a White House conference on nutrition and food insecurity.

"I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Representative [Jim] McGovern, Senator [Mike] Braun, Senator [Cory] Booker, Representative Jackie — are you here? Where’s Jackie? — I think she was going to be here," Biden awkward trailed off, before adding, "She must not be here."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed Walorski was simply on his mind because she was so heavily involved in the issue of combatting hunger.

Now, the White House press relations team has appeared to run damage control, assuring the public that cameras were banned because the bill signing was a private moment between the President, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Walorski's family, and not because they feared another on-air gaffe.

"As you all know, we don't put every bill signing on the schedule," she informed reporters. "As you could imagine, this is a personal moment that the president was doing."

"Like I mentioned in the briefing a couple of days ago, the president has been looking forward to hosting the late representatives' family and other lawmakers to honor her legacy," she continued.

As Radar previously reported, GOP lawmakers were furious at the 79-year-old's public slip-up and demanded he apologize.

"The White House Press Secretary completely failed to defend Biden's unacceptable comments about my late friend and colleague Jackie Walorski," Arizona Rep. David Schweikert wrote in a tweet. "The president should personally apologize to her family and loved ones immediately."

Senator Ted Cruz’s communications advisor, Steve Guest, also commented on the situation, replying, "It's the day it finally became ok for the White House Press pool to acknowledge that Joe Biden is senile."

DailyMail reported Jean-Pierre's comments to the press.