President Biden is expected to soon deliver remarks condemning violence and discrimination against Asian Americans in the wake of this week's deadly shootings in Georgia.
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to meet with Asian American leaders after the Tuesday night shootings that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent, according to CNN.
"We're going to discuss the ongoing attacks against the community and how we move forward," Biden said. "It's up to all of us to root out racism and give hate no safe harbor in America."
The president will also speak from Emory University on Friday, and White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters he will "highlight his commitment to combating xenophobia."
Authorities on Friday identified four more victims of the shootings at two Atlanta spas, all four women of Asian descent, The New York Times reports. The shooting suspect's church also released a statement ahead of Biden's meeting condemning the "extreme and wicked act" and saying the shootings "were a total repudiation of our faith and practice."
Ahead of his remarks, Biden on Friday said that "while we do not yet know the motive" of the shooting, "we condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing crisis of gender-based and anti-Asian violence that has long plagued our nation."