Joe Biden called Heather Heyer's mother after his Charlottesville-focused campaign video to talk about loss

(Image credit: Pool / Getty Images)

published 26 April 2019

Joe Biden didn't call Susan Bro before mentioning her daughter Heather Heyer in his 2020 campaign launch video. But she wants to make it clear she's not "devastated or traumatized" about it.

In his video shared Thursday, the former vice president evoked the Unite the Right white supremacist rally held in summer 2017, and President Trump's "both sides" comment that followed it. Biden particularly mentioned how "a brave young woman" protesting the event "lost her life," noticeably not mentioning Heyer's name.

Bro, who has since started an anti-hate foundation in her daughter's name, told CNN's New Day on Friday that she woke up to calls from press asking her about Biden's video. But Bro "wasn’t surprised" by the mention, she told The Daily Beast, adding that "most people ... capitalize on whatever situation is handy." Still, she said she's "glad he [Biden] didn’t specifically mention Heather" because "it's not all about her."

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After her interview with The Daily Beast, Bro told CNN that Biden called her a few hours after the video premiered. The two talked "a lot about bereavement," and Biden said he "would've reached out sooner but I wasn't sure how you would feel," Bro said in the Friday appearance. Bro wasn't, as some rumors suggested, "devastated or traumatized" by Heyer's mention in the video, she said. Watch her CNN appearance below. Kathryn Krawczyk

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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