Biden touches off media debate after backtracking from calling Laken Riley murder suspect 'illegal'

President Biden faced swift backlash from Democrats and liberal media pundits after he used the term "illegal" to describe the suspect in the Laken Riley murder during his State of the Union address.

After facing criticism from Democrats, the president back-tracked and told MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart in an interview airing Saturday that he regretted using the term for Laken Riley's alleged killer, who is an illegal immigrant.

"And I shouldn't have used illegal, I should've… It's undocumented," he said. "And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his – the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood… I'm not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect… They built the country. The reason our economy is growing. We have to control the border and more orderly flow, but I don’t share his view at all."

When asked if he regrets his word choice, Biden replied "yes." Some Democrats lambasted Biden after he referred to the murder suspect as an "illegal" as he was heckled by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

President Joe Biden speaks at Abbotts Creek Community Center during an event to promote his economic agenda in Raleigh, North Carolina, on January 18, 2024.  (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

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Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia, was allegedly killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, who illegally entered the United States in 2022. In the days after his address, members of the media argued that people were not illegal. 

"He really annoyed Democrats with the way that he spoke about immigration because he used the word ‘illegals’ to describe people. We normally don't use that word because people are not illegal. Their actions might be illegal. So I think on the one hand he annoyed Democrats," New York Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro said during an appearance on CNN.

Reuters reporter Nandita Bose asked the president about his use of the term on Friday.

"Technically he's not supposed to be here," Biden said after initially hesitating in his answer.

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The White House asserted on Monday that Biden didn't apologize for anything. 

"First of all, I want to be really clear about something: the president absolutely did not apologize," White House spokesperson Olivia Dalton told reporters when asked why Biden "apologized." "There was no apology anywhere in that conversation. He did not apologize. He used a different word."

MSNBC host Alex Witt, while speaking about Biden's decision to backtrack on Saturday, said, "You have to think about the president having heard the term illegals. We do not use that here at NBC News. He said he does not use that as well, typically, but when you have the other side, Marjorie Taylor Greene, constantly using that word coming at them. It seemed that it was embedded in the president’s mind, and he does regret having used that in place of the term undocumented workers."

During a Monday conversation on CNN, senior political commentator Scott Jennings hammered the president for backtracking on using the term. 

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"I am worried about what Biden told NBC. He apologized for calling the murderer of Laken Riley illegal. He had it right in the speech and then he got bullied by his left flank into changing it," Jennings said. "And then even more outrageous, he said, ‘I‘m not going to insult people like that because they built the country.’"

Former Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield, who was also on the CNN panel, defended the president and also argued Biden didn't apologize.

"He corrected himself, he did not apologize," Bedingfield said. "I mean that is just ludicrous framing, he did not apologize." 

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Paola Ramos, who guest-hosted Ayman Mohyeldin’s MSNBC show on Sunday, argued that language mattered after Biden back-tracked, and declared, "no human being is illegal."

"Anti-immigrant language can at times be so contagious, so pervasive that it can easily make its way into the back door of progressive and liberal spaces," Ramos said. "President Biden used the word ‘illegal’ when describing an undocumented man who allegedly killed a Georgia student, Laken Riley. To be clear, no human being is illegal." 

Capehart on Saturday also made the point that Biden understood. 

"He understands, or understood, the damage that he caused, and he was very eager to make amends," he said. "And I did get the very clear sense that he knows he made a mistake and he was very eager to make amends for that mistake."

Host Ayman Mohyeldin asked Capehart to respond to Trump's criticisms of the president's decision to apologize for using the term "illegal."

MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart reacted to Donald Trump's criticism of President Biden's apology over using the term "illegal." (Screenshot/MSNBC)

"It is proving the president’s point about how hurtful that language is. And you know, let’s not forget, this isn’t just about people having tender feelings and tender hearts and thinking that folks are being overly sensitive. It’s because of language like that, used by Donald Trump and used by folks on the far-right that people have been incentivized to put targets on the backs of Latinos and Hispanics in this country," Capehart responded. 

"So, words have power and these kinds of words that degrade and dehumanize people particularly from folks on the right have dangerous power," he continued.

Former Texas Republican Rep. Mayra Flores told Fox News Digital that Biden was right the first time around.

"I was surprised that he used that term and that is the correct term… To see him apologizing is shameful and disgusting to me," she said. "The only people I see offended by this are the far left, and we don’t need them to be offended for us."

Bill D'Agostino, video editor for conservative media watchdog NewsBusters, clipped together several examples of left-leaning media hitting Biden for the remarks and added, "What an embarrassing time to be a journalist."

Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.