- Sen. James Lankford was the highest GOP negotiator on the failed border safety deal.
- He claims a “standard commentator” warned him to not resolve the disaster throughout an election yr.
- “I’ll do no matter I can to destroy you,” Lankford mentioned.
Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma spoke on Wednesday concerning the political challenges he is encountered whereas serving as the highest GOP negotiator on a bipartisan border safety deal.
In a speech shortly earlier than the anticipated failure of the deal, Lankford bemoaned the truth that some fellow Republicans had been objecting to the invoice for purely political causes.
“A few of them have been very clear with me,” Lankford mentioned of his GOP colleagues, “they’ve political variations with the invoice. They are saying it is the mistaken time to unravel the issue. We’ll let the presidential election resolve this drawback.”
Lankford went on to say {that a} “standard commentator” — with out naming any names — threatened to “destroy” him if he negotiated the deal throughout a presidential election yr, no matter what was in it.
“I’ll do no matter I can to destroy you, as a result of I don’t want you to unravel this through the presidential election,” Lankford recounted the commentator saying.
“By the best way, they’ve been devoted to their promise, and have executed every part they will to destroy me,” he added.
“I had a well-liked commentator 4 weeks in the past that I talked to that informed me … ‘For those who attempt to transfer a invoice that solves the border disaster throughout this presidential yr, I’ll do no matter I can to destroy you.’”
— Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) condemns pushback to Senate border invoice pic.twitter.com/bRzoNTgyGi
— The Recount (@therecount) February 7, 2024
Forward of the discharge of the textual content of the deal — which was negotiated following GOP calls for to connect border safety provisions to a invoice to supply billions in assist to Ukraine and Israel — right-wing media retailers like Fox Information promoted false claims concerning the deal, claiming it could quantity to “amnesty.”
And a few Republicans admitted that politics was a key issue for them.
“I can not vote for this invoice,” mentioned Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third-highest rating GOP senator, in his assertion on the deal. “Individuals will flip to the upcoming election to finish the border disaster.”
Following the anticipated failed vote, the Senate is predicted to take up a invoice to ship billions in assist to Ukraine and Israel, however with none border safety provisions.
