Mother of murdered Maryland woman Rachel Morin joins White House briefing
Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel was raped and murdered by a fugitive from El Salvador in 2023, joined press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a White House briefing on Wednesday.
Morin described in detail the murder of her daughter, a 37-year-old mother of five, as she was exercising on a hiking trail outside of Baltimore.
Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was convicted of the attack on Monday.
"This person took my daughter so violently and so gruesomely and so graphically that they sealed the pictures because I don't want my granddaughters to see these pictures," said Morin.
President Trump has highlighted Rachel Morin's story, arguing the media should focus more on her death rather than the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland before he was sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison last month.
"There is no Maryland father," said Leavitt at the beginning of the briefing, "Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his home country."
The government has claimed Abrego Garcia is linked to Salvadoran gang MS-13, which his attorneys deny. Abrego Garcia has also not been charged with any crime, and his case is separate from the one involving Rachel Morin. The Trump administration — which previously called his deportation an "administrative error" — has been ordered by a federal judge to "facilitate" his return, which the Supreme Court has backed.
The White House added the Wednesday briefing late in the afternoon with the announcement that a "special guest" was joining the press secretary.
As she left the podium, Morin asked reporters to tell the truth about her daughter's story. "It's about national security, protecting Americans, protecting our children," said Morin.
