Former President Donald Trump reused words offered in a murder victim's obituary while claiming to have spoken to her family while paying tribute to her.
Fox 17 reported that Trump used Ruby Garcia's murder as the backdrop for his Tuesday attack on President Joe Biden, accusing him of a "bloodbath" on the U.S. border.
Garcia's sister said Trump had not spoken with the family before the event. Trump, however, claimed to know the victim's family in his Michigan speech.
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"Ruby's loved ones and community are left grieving for this incredible young woman," Trump said Tuesday. "They said she had just this most contagious laughter and when she walked into a room, she lit up that room — and I've heard that from so many people. I spoke to some of her family."
Trump's words echoed a statement made in Garcia's obituary, Media Matters' Matthew Gertz observed.
"Ruby's love for plants and traveling came nothing close to her affectionate smile that illuminated the room or contagious laughter that recreated the atmosphere," the obituary said.
Garcia was allegedly killed by her boyfriend Brandon Ortiz-Vite, a Mexico native who was in the U.S. illegally, the Michigan State Police said.
Trump got Garcia's age wrong in his speech, and was then criticized by the victim's sister who said it was "shocking" that he'd claimed to have been in touch with the family.
“He did not speak with any of us, so it was kind of shocking seeing that he had said that he had spoke with us," said Mavi Garcia.
