Senate Republicans are frustrated with Mitch McConnell’s leadership and the GOP over the lack of transparency on border security and additional aid to Ukraine, saying it raises ‘real red flags’ as Donald Trump calls them out insists on REJECTING the deal

Senate Republicans are frustrated with their leadership because of the lack of clarity about what will happen in a crucial border security and foreign aid deal that no one but a handful of members has seen.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tapped Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma to lead negotiations with Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy, Conn., and independent Sen. Krysten Sinema, R-Arizona, on a border-foreign aid package that would include funding would contribute to domestic border security objectives and the war in Ukraine.

Negotiations have been ongoing for the past four months. But to the frustration of many lawmakers, no word has been released on what will actually be included in the potential package.

“What’s holding this back is there’s no bill,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee told DailyMail.com. ‘We didn’t see any text. They have been negotiating about it for four months and don’t want to share it with us.’

“Even after we raised these concerns, they still won’t share any text with us,” Lee continued. “It’s just enough to raise real warning signs.”

Migrants line up as they prepare to be picked up by Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas

Senator Rick Scott raised similar concerns during a briefing on Wednesday.

“We don’t have any text,” the Florida Republican said. ‘We should all have the opportunity to participate.’

Another Republican senator, Todd Young, this week urged chief negotiators to release the text.

“I would encourage James Lankford and other conservatives to produce a work product that will soon give conservatives like me the opportunity to review it and take heart that there are some of us who will not look to third parties and question the accuracy of will review their products. passed this bipartisan proposal,” he told CNN.

But at a closed-door Republican meeting Wednesday, McConnell admitted to members that the dynamics of entering an election year have affected negotiations, sources present said.

To further complicate matters for Senate Republicans, former President Donald Trump has publicly tried to influence the Senate to oppose the border deal.

“We need a strong, powerful and essentially ‘PERFECT’ border,” Trump wrote from 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.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said McConnell is one of the problems in the negotiations

Senator Mike Lee of Utah has repeatedly pushed for the text to be released, but to no avail

Republicans have long lamented Biden’s border policies but are weary that adding additional laws to the books wouldn’t change anything as they argue Biden already isn’t enforcing the law.

When asked about the ongoing discussions that same day, McConnell told reporters “we’re still working on it.”

During Wednesday’s briefing, Scott said he would like the former president to see the potential bill before the Senate takes action on it.

“If we expect Trump to be able to secure the border, he should be able to see this bill and say, ‘Is this going to help me secure the border or not?’ he said.

Some Republican senators have said the negotiations are evidence that the conference’s leadership is out of step with rank-and-file members, and that their negotiating ability is not what it once was.

“The problem is our leader, Leader McConnell,” Sen. Ron Johnson reportedly said during Scott’s briefing Wednesday, adding that the Kentuckian “does not consult with the conference.”

Lee similarly told DailyMail.com that the leader is deliberately keeping his members in the dark.

“They’re keeping this under such tight lock and key,” Lee said.

Meanwhile, across the Capitol, Speaker Mike Johnson revealed that the Senate’s national security and border deal is “dead on arrival” in the House of Representatives and that he will instead focus on ousting the Homeland Security Sec. . Alejandro Mayorkas.

Johnson distributed a letter to Republicans on Friday, obtained by DailyMail.com, reaffirming the House’s position on the ongoing border security talks in the Senate.

“If the rumors about the contents of the draft bill were true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House of Representatives anyway,” the speaker said, instead calling on the Senate to pass the Republican party-line bill Party, HR 2, to be adopted. , which expired last year.

The speaker said it is “important” to ask “what is the point” of negotiating a border deal with Democrats if President Biden “is not going to enforce the laws that are already on the books.”

He emphasized that the House will “vigorously oppose” any policy proposal from the White House or Senate that would “further encourage illegal aliens to break the law.”