President Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that he “never” told House Republicans to vote for either of the immigration bills that failed to pass this week – despite telling them merely three days ago in all-caps to do exactly that.
I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold. I released many prior to the vote knowing we need more Republicans to win in Nov.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2018
HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME. WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2018
The bill Trump referred to in Wednesday’s tweet was a second immigration bill crafted by Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA) that offered a so-called “compromise” on immigration between conservative and moderate Republicans. It would’ve provided a path to citizenship to undocumented young people brought to the country as children, but it would’ve also eliminated several paths to legal immigration while giving $25 billion dollars to build Trump’s infamous border wall.
Like Goodlatte’s more conservative bill last week, the “compromise” bill went down in flames on Wednesday.
A GOP deputy whip who asked to not be identified blamed Trump for the second bill’s demise, complaining that his tweet was “24 hours too late.”
