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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Justin Vallejo

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert heckle Biden after turning their backs during State of the Union

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert heckled Joe Biden during his State of the Union speech, yelling “build the wall, build the wall” as the president discussed immigration.

The pair continued throughout the entire address; starting by appearing to turn their backs as the president entered the chamber and continuing through tweets, shouts and personal attacks.

About halfway through his speech, Mr Biden pivoted from talking about his Supreme Court nomination to immigration reform.

“Folks, if we’re going to advance liberty and justice, we need to secure our border and fix the immigration system,” he said.

As the pair continued chanting “build the wall”, Mr Biden continued, saying: “As you might guess I think we can do both.”

It came after the pair either turned their back on the president as he entered the chamber, or “appeared slightly lost”, according to some observers.

Ms Boebert shouted “that’s right” when Mr Biden spoke out against defunding the police, while New Republic writer Grace Segers noted that Ms Taylor Green yelled at Biden during a passage on transgender children.

“Boebert gets hushed and called shame when she claims that Biden put Americans in flag-draped coffins...right before he mentioned his son who died of cancer,” Ms Segers observed.

When Mr Biden began talking about the burn pits that gave his son Beau Biden cancer, Ms Boebert interrupted to shout about the 13 soldiers killed during the withdrawal of Afghanistan.

“They come home, many of the world’s fittest and best-trained warriors in the world, never the same, headaches, numbness, dizziness, a cancer that would put them in a flag-draped draped coffin. I know,” Mr Biden said.

During a pause, Ms Boebert shouted “13 of them”.

“One of those,” Mr Biden continued, speaking about a different casualty of war. “One of those soldiers was my son.”

Ms Boebert was unapologetic after the speech, saying she “couldn’t stay silent” when Mr Biden mentioned “flag-draped coffins”.

“Our heroic servicemen and women deserve so much better,” she added.

Ms Taylor Greene joined the heckling as the president turned to mental health policy, calling for full parity between coverage for physical and mental health care.

“Joe Biden wants us to tackle “mental health.” I agree. We must start with the presidency,” she tweeted.

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