Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., went after former President Donald Trump on Wednesday over his role in sinking a bipartisan Senate bill as the former president seeks to cast Vice President Kamala Harris as a “border czar” who failed to secure the border amid record increases of migrant crossings.
“This was not meeting the Republicans on the 50-yard line; this was meeting them on the 10-yard line,” Kelly said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” referring to the bipartisan border bill that would have imposed tough overhauls on the border but was killed after Trump pressured GOP lawmakers to vote against it.
“On their side of the field, we realized we’ve got to get operational control over the border. I realized this, Kamala Harris realizes this, and this legislation was going to do that,” he added. “And our goal here was to get this legislation passed and then start working on comprehensive immigration reform. But this was stopped dead in its tracks by Donald Trump because he wanted to have this as an election issue. Like a lot of other Republicans, they don’t actually want to solve this problem.”
Kelly, who is on the short list to be Harris’ running mate, has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s approach to border security, but he is now viewed as a potential buffer for Harris against attacks from Trump and his allies on her record on the border and immigration.
Trump has largely focused on immigration in his recent attacks on Harris. He has argued that Harris failed to secure the border after President Joe Biden tasked her in 2021 with addressing the influx of migrants from Central American countries to the southern border and the root causes of migration.
Harris has pushed back against on Trump’s attacks, citing her time as attorney general of California.
“In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico on that border with law enforcement officers,” Harris said Monday night at a rally in Atlanta. “I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won.”
In his “Morning Joe” interview, Kelly declined to confirm whether he has been in touch with Harris’ campaign recently.
“I’m not going to get into any of that. I am going to be focused on making sure that Kamala is the next president. I’m going to work as hard as I can,” he said, noting that his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, has been stumping for Harris in battleground states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“My plan’s right now is to be in Arizona,” he added. “Arizona is important not only for who is going to be in the White House, but also who’s going to keep control of the United States Senate.”
