Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) lashed out at former President Trump and other Republicans on the border issue Wednesday, stating that “they don’t really want to solve this problem, they just want to talk about it.”
Kelly, a potential vice presidential pick for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, criticized Republicans for undermining an emerging border agreement earlier this year.
“Our goal here was to pass this legislation and then start working on comprehensive immigration reform, but that was stopped by Donald Trump because he wanted this to be an election issue,” Kelly said. said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” of a bipartisan border bill that was rejected twice by the Senate after pressure from Trump against it.
“Like many other Republicans, they don’t really want to solve this problem, they just want to talk about it,” Kelly added.
“When this is a complicated issue, one thing is pretty basic,” Kelly said. “And that’s what we had an agreement on. We had the votes. And then Donald Trump wakes up one morning and sees that he doesn’t want this problem solved. So he told Senate Republicans they were not allowed to vote for it.”
Trump called the bipartisan border bill a “death wish” for Republicans in February, shortly after its release.
“Only a fool, or a radical left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous border bill, which only gives closure authority after 5,000 encounters a day, when we already have the right to close the border now, which should be done,” Trump said. in Social Truth.
“This bill is a huge gift for Democrats and a death wish for the Republican Party. It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats did on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of the Republicans,” Trump continued. “Do not be stupid!!! We need a separate Borders and Immigration bill. It should not be linked to foreign aid in any way!”
The Hill reached out to the Republican National Committee, the Trump campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
In addition to Kelly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) are seen as the leading candidates to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
