President Joe Biden called Donald Trump an “existential threat” who will “try to undo everything we’ve done” as he courted wealthy donors for his re-election bid.
Speaking to supporters in New York City, the President blamed Trump for Republican chaos on Capitol Hill after Republican lawmakers struck a deal on border security and attempted to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Republicans are “walking away because Donald Trump is calling and threatening them,” Biden said Wednesday afternoon.
“There is one existential threat: it’s Donald Trump,” he added. “He’ll try to undo everything we’ve done. Make no mistake.’
President Joe Biden arrives in New York City to participate in three fundraisers for his re-election campaign
He then asked for their support: “We can’t let that happen.”
Biden was in New York City to attend a trio of fundraisers for his re-election campaign.
His comments came as the bipartisan border security bill officially collapsed in the Senate after conservative Republicans trashed the long-negotiated compromise legislation.
They argue the bill did not go far enough to secure the border. Trump, who is likely to be Biden’s rival in the November election, had lobbied against it, calling it a “death wish” for the Republican Party.
Both parties are trying to turn the issue into election fodder.
Biden originally supported the bill to try to take the border issue off the table as he gears up for the 2024 general election. But Trump wanted to keep the issue alive so he can hammer Biden on it.
But now Biden is hammering the former president and his Republicans over their failure to support the legislation negotiated under the leadership of Republican leaders.
Republicans’ attempts to use the border against Biden are quickly turning into farce, and the president is looking to engage the GOP on an issue that has dogged his administration since day one.
On Tuesday, Biden said Republicans in Congress were “caving in” to Trump on the issue and urged them to “show some backbone” by backing a border security deal.
With record numbers of migrants crossing the border, Biden has struggled to address the problem. Even some of his Democrats urged him to do more.
But now Republicans have given him a way to flip the switch.
“I will put this issue before the country, and voters will know that it is not just a moment in time – just as we were going to secure the border and fund these other programs, Trump and the MAGA Republicans said no. because they are afraid of Donald Trump,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday.
“Every day between now and November,” he added, “the American people will know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends.”
Donald Trump called the border compromise a “death wish” for the Republican Party
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell was at the Capitol on Wednesday when his party’s chaos finally led to a border bill
The $118 billion deal, backed by the White House, included $14 billion in aid to Israel, $60 billion to Ukraine as well as $20 billion to secure the southern border amid a massive increase in illegal migration.
Shortly after it was released, many Republicans immediately rejected it, making it a victim of election year politics.
Meanwhile, Chairman Mike Johnson tried to conduct a stand-alone vote $17 billion in aid to Israel, but that failed in the House of Representatives after Democrats joined hardline Republicans to undermine the measure.
And just minutes earlier, Republicans had initiated a vote on articles of impeachment for Secretary Mayorkas, dealing an embarrassing blow to Johnson.
After weeks of build-up, a resolution to impeach Mayorkas failed Tuesday night, when Democrats pulled off a shock move by bringing in Texas Democrat Al Green, who had just undergone surgery.
This move apparently took Republicans by surprise.
“Their floor director literally told our floor director that Al wouldn’t be here,” Republican Whip Tom Emmer told DailyMail.com.
Republicans were then one vote behind — while Majority Leader Steve Scalise was off recovering from cancer treatment — and the resolution failed.
Biden seems baffled by the Republicans in the House of Representatives.
“I never thought I would see anything like what I’m seeing now,” he told donors on Wednesday.