A mother who lost her two sons to fentanyl poisoning responded contemptuously to Joe Biden laughing at claims his policies could be to blame for their deaths by saying in a video message last night, “How dare you?”
Rebecca Kiessling’s sons Caleb and Kyler died in 2020 before Biden took office after taking what they thought were painkillers but were laced with fentanyl.
Kiessling, who lives in Michigan, testified before Congress earlier this week at a hearing on the escalating fentanyl crisis. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested at the hearing that the boys would still be alive if “the government secured the border.”
Last night, Biden invoked Kiessling’s story to mock Greene, telling an audience of sniggering Democrats at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference, “The interesting thing is that fentanyl [the boys] took came during the last administration, haha.’
Kiessling reacted angrily to his comments in a video posted online Wednesday night.
‘Is that what you talk about the death of my sons? Because a congressman made a mistake? Do you mock the loss of my sons?’ she said.
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Rebecca Kiessling in a video recorded last night that she posted to Facebook. She accused Biden of laughing at her story and demanded an apology
Kiessling’s sons Caleb and Kyler died in 2020 when they were 18 and 20 after taking a pill they didn’t know was laced with fentanyl
‘How dare you. What is the matter with you. Virtually every Democrat on the committee offered condolences, at least they had the decency to do so.
‘Can’t you even do that? Must you mock my pain?’
She also pointed to the rise in fentanyl deaths across the country since Biden took office, saying, “My kids died about six months before he became president.
“There has been a failed policy by many governments for far too long, ever since there was a spate of fentanyl deaths.
“This has been a problem for a long time.
‘[But] what about the 22% increase in fentanyl deaths since you became president? That represents tens of thousands of US citizens who died under your watch, an increase of tens of thousands. That’s double the number of parents who suffer.
‘Do you keep smiling? About those who died under your watch? Should we bring them in so you can look them in the eye and smile?
‘What’s wrong with you? This is not acceptable. Our president must apologize to me and be held accountable.”
The White House has yet to respond to her comments or her demand for an apology.
At last night’s conference, Biden poked fun at Rep. Greene when he made the comment about the boys’ deaths.
Just a little more Marjorie Taylor Greene and we’ll have a lot of Republicans coming our way. Is not she Lovely? Fruit. She recently said very specifically that a mother, a poor mother who lost two children to fentanyl, killed her sons.
“The interesting thing is that the fentanyl they took came during the last administration, haha.”
Kiessling cried Tuesday as she begged Congress to crack down on the flow of fentanyl across the border
Kiessling testified before Congress about the death of her sons earlier this week. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Biden administration was doing ‘nothing’ to stop youth fentanyl deaths
Kiessling also appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to criticize critics who have suggested her sons — and anyone who takes drugs — are responsible for the crisis.
“I was really upset by the guy from the Cato Institute who said the problem is the question.
“That’s part of the rhetoric I’ve heard… they did something illegal, so they deserved to die? Of course I taught my children not to use drugs.
“They heard it more than anyone else because their birth mother was a drug addict.
“But they experimented anyway and unfortunately there are more than 100,000 and they are dying.”
“I was really shocked by some of the rhetoric I heard from the Democrats who said they had heard a lot of ‘fear mongering’. 110,000 died in 2021. We have reason to be afraid,” she said.
She blames the crisis on China – which has been criticized for contributing to the fentanyl trade. China is the main manufacturer of chemicals often shipped to Mexico and used by cartels to produce fentanyl.
Kiessling at the graves of her sons. The couple died in July 2020
Kiessling testified that she did not know what fentanyl was when her sons died, and that they took what they thought were painkillers.
The number of fentanyl overdose deaths has skyrocketed since 2019
In 2019, the Chinese government cracked down on the production and distribution of fentanyl itself, a move welcomed by President Donald Trump.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is being urged by Republicans to impose sanctions on China now in an effort to do more to stop the drug’s flow.
Earlier this month, fourteen Republican senators urged him to do more in a letter spearheaded by Marco Rubio.
In her testimony earlier this week, Kiessling sobbed that more was being done about a “weather balloon” than protecting children from the fentanyl trade.
“If we had Chinese troops on our border with guns aimed at our cities… you know damn well you’d do something about it.
‘A weather balloon from China flew over our country. No one died and everyone is crazy about it.
“But 110,000 die every year and nothing is done about it. You are talking about children being taken away from their parents. My children were taken from me.
“This shouldn’t be politicized, it’s not about race. Fentanyl doesn’t care about race.
“You welcome drug dealers across our borders and protect them, but you don’t protect our children,” she said angrily.
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