Parents of Laken Riley Turn Down Far-Right Rep’s SOTU Speech Invite

The parents of slain UGA jogger Laken Riley have declined an invitation to the State of the Union address Thursday in order to grieve their daughter, according to far-right Congressman Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA).

Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District of Athens, where the 22-year-old nursing student is alleged to have been murdered, said in an announcement to X on Wednesday that his office had sent an invite, “but understandably, they have chosen to stay home as they grieve the loss of their daughter.”

It is unclear whether Collins’ reputation for the wilder of side of politics was also at play in the decision to turn down the invite—he is currently facing criticism for his response to an antisemitic post on X that called a Washington Post reporter out for being Jewish.

Read more at The Daily Beast.