President Joe Biden joked with reporters on Tuesday that he probably didn’t agree with Republican Senator Josh Hawley about whether Christians were targeted in a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
Biden was asked by a reporter if he agreed with Hawley that Christians had been targeted in the shooting that left three adults and three children dead and appeared to mock the idea of agreeing with Hawley.
The remarks come after Hawley called on the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate the shooting as a hate crime “against Christian children and teachers.”
On the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, a reporter asked Biden if he believed that Christians were targeted in the Nashville shooting.
“I have no idea,” Biden responded and when he was told that Hawley believes that Christians were targeted, the president said: “Well, I probably don’t then.”
“No, I’m joking,” Biden added. “I have no idea.”
Hawley shared a tweet on Tuesday from CNN reporter DJ Judd reporting on Biden’s joke and wrote: “What a disgrace.”
“There’s nothing remotely funny about hate crimes,” Hawley added in another tweet highlighting the remarks.
In a tweet earlier in the day, Hawley called for the shooting at The Covenant School to be investigated as a hate crime directed as Christians.
“I am calling on FBI Director Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas to open a federal hate crime investigation into the massacre in Nashville – targeting a Christian school,” he wrote.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email for comment.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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