Former President Donald Trump‘s estranged niece Mary Trump revealed a “smoking gun” against her uncle on Friday about solving the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Immigration is among the top issues ahead of the 2024 presidential election, with polls reflecting doubt over President Joe Biden‘s border policies, as Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee, has pledged tougher action such as launching the largest domestic deportation operation in United States history.
Biden continues to face bipartisan criticism on the issue, as the country experiences heightened levels of migrant border crossings. There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the southern border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
Republicans say the uptick in migrants is a direct result of Biden’s border policies, which, they argue, incentivize illegal immigration. Other experts have said various factors, including political and financial instability in some Central American countries, drive migration to the U.S.
Mary Trump, took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to share a video of Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, speaking about the former president and the southern border in January, ahead of the vote for the bipartisan border security bill that was later struck down in the Senate.
In the video, Romney said to reporters, “I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump and the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and Congress people that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling.”
In response, Mary Trump wrote on X, “SMOKING GUN: Mitt Romney revealed Donald is actively telling Republican Senators and members of Congress to vote against Border legislation to make Biden look bad. It’s so infuriating Republican voters don’t see this.”
On Friday, Trump stood beside House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, and spoke of a united effort to address illegal immigration as well as election integrity.
In the joint conference held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, the former president spoke highly of the House speaker, as Johnson once again criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the southern border.
In addition, Trump urged Biden to address border concerns and said, “He should close the border immediately. He needs no legislation. He doesn’t need this gentleman,” Trump said, referring to Johnson. “He doesn’t need anybody.”
“President Biden has created a catastrophe, and he did it by design,” Johnson told reporters while also praising Trump’s policies on migration, such as the Remain in Mexico policy.
The former president has previously urged Republicans not to accept anything less than a “perfect” border deal before the general election in November, sparking questions about whether some Republicans are working to prevent Biden from scoring a victory by signing the border bill into law.
“I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, Country!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, earlier this year. “Also, I have no doubt that our wonderful Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, will only make a deal that is PERFECT ON THE BORDER.”
Afterward, Johnson told reporters it was “absurd” to suggest that House Republicans were ready to spike a potential deal to keep the issue unresolved and therefore potentially more effective ammunition for Trump in his campaign.
The $118 billion bipartisan border security bill would have addressed key concerns at the southern border, increasing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention capacity from 34,000 to 50,000, allocating $20 billion to immigration enforcement, among other items.
However, the bill was struck down in the Senate in February as conservative hardliners argued it didn’t go far enough to end illegal immigration into the country. All Republican senators voted against the bill except Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, the bill’s lead GOP negotiator, and moderate Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Romney. In addition, five Democrats joined the Republicans in voting against the bill.
Biden slammed Republicans after the bill was shot down, saying he “never thought I’d see something like we are seeing now” in Congress and blamed the failed vote on Trump.
