Jill Biden takes on Trump: First lady accuses Donald of ‘doing everything he can to make Joe look bad’ and claims he wants to undermine border deal in Congress to give him a better chance in 2024

Jill Biden is taking on Donald Trump, criticizing him for making her husband Joe Biden “look bad” and accusing him of trying to thwart a border deal “for his own political gain.”

The first lady went on the attack Saturday evening during a fundraiser in Houston, after Trump publicly opposed a border compromise being worked on in the Senate.

“You see what happened today with the border, and now Trump is trying to do everything he can to make Joe look bad, you know, even when it comes to lives – sacrificing so many people’s lives just for his own political gain,” she said. donors to her husband’s re-election campaign.

‘I know it’s still early to start, but I want you to think after you leave tonight that I am indeed in favor of democracy. And yes, I am going to fight as hard as I can and not let something like 2016 happen again.”

Jill Biden was on a three-day fundraiser through South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Texas to tout Joe Biden’s achievements in office and raise campaign money.

She has increased her role on the campaign trail and served as an attack dog against Republicans, echoing the former president’s policies. Both Bidens have embraced criticism of “MAGA Republicans” as a threat to democracy.

Her attack on Trump came after President Biden embraced tough new border restrictions passed in the Senate, including closing the US-Mexico border.

Biden’s border policy has been largely influenced by the first lady, his advisers told the Wall Street Journal, because of her response to the Trump administration’s family separation policy and its “Remain in Mexico” program.

During the 2020 campaign, Jill Biden visited a tent camp of migrants living just across the southern border in Matamoros, Mexico.

President Biden has embraced the border deal because Senate Republicans have bound it to help Ukraine, another priority for the Biden administration, but also because it solves a political hot potato as he campaigns for a second term.

Biden’s support for the border compromise contrasts with the president’s previous stance — in which he emphasized “humanitarian” measures — and comes as the 2024 campaign comes into focus. With Trump’s recent victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, he is increasingly looking like the Republican presidential candidate.

President Joe Biden has embraced a compromise border deal being worked out in the Senate, while Donald Trump rejected it, saying no bill was better than a bad bill

An aerial view of Eagle Pass, Texas, as migrants walk past barbed wire after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States

Trump, meanwhile, has rejected the Senate bill as he tries to keep the border issue alive during his campaign, where it has proven to be a winning issue for Republicans.

“We need a strong, powerful and essentially ‘PERFECT’ border,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account late Thursday.

The former president said that unless Republicans achieve these goals, “we’re better off not making a deal.”

The “unsustainable invasion” at the southern border is considered a “death wish” for the United States, he added.

A Republican rejection of the bill would deny Biden a political victory as he prepares to face his rival in 2020.

Under the border plan still being worked on in the Senate, the Department of Homeland Security would be given new emergency authority to close the border if the daily average of illegal border crossings reaches 4,000 in a week. Certain migrants would be allowed to stay if it turns out they are fleeing torture or persecution in their country.

The text of the proposal is expected to be published soon, but is not yet final.

“This bill is aimed at ensuring that we eliminate illegal border crossings every day,” Senator James Lankford, the Republican chief negotiator, said on Fox News on Sunday. “There is no amnesty, it increases the number of Border Patrol agents, it increases the asylum staff, it increases detention beds so that we can quickly detain and then deport individuals.”

Border Patrol counted 249,785 apprehensions at the Mexican border in December, up 31% from 191,112 in November and up 13% from 222,018 in December 2022

Jill Biden has become a key advocate for husband Joe Biden’s re-election campaign

But House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested the border compromise “could be dead” in his chamber, setting off an intraparty battle over the issue.

Republicans repeatedly point to the historic numbers of migrants who have come to the US during Biden’s presidency.

Biden’s team says global unrest is driving migration and that the president has tried to implement humane border enforcement policies.

Border crossings reached another record in December.

Border Patrol counted 249,785 apprehensions at the Mexican border in December, up 31% from 191,112 in November and up 13% from 222,018 in December 2022, the previous record high.

“Securing the border through these negotiations is a victory for America,” Biden said in the statement endorsing the deal with the Senate. “For anyone demanding stricter border controls, this is the way to do it.”

A CBS News poll taken earlier this month showed Biden’s approval rating for handling immigration issues at a record low, with 68% saying they disapproved of his border policies and 63% saying they wanted him to be tougher.

If the deal collapses, congressional leaders may also be left without a clear path to approving tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine.