California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) went after congressional Republicans in an interview that aired Thursday, calling them “pathetically weak” for yielding to former President Trump on the border.
“Mitch McConnell, I thought that was shameful, what was reported out,” Newsom told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner, referring to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “That he’s just completely rolling over and capitulating.
“Don’t even get me started with the weakness of the current Speaker of the House,” Newsom added, referring to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). “I mean, they don’t want a deal, period. Full stop.”
“I think it is a disgrace, what the Republican Party is doing, what Donald Trump is doing,” Newsom said in the MSNBC interview, highlighted by Mediaite. “And this is hidden in plain sight. He sent out a tweet or some Truth whatever saying, ‘Kill it.’ And these guys are so weak. How … so pathetically weak, this Republican Party.”
McConnell told fellow Republican senators Wednesday that being able to pass border security reforms along with Ukraine aid is becoming harder than originally expected. He also noted that the former president’s antagonism toward any border security deal could be impossible to push past.
McConnell also floated splitting funding for Ukraine from border security reforms.
Republicans in the Senate who favor sending aid to Ukraine and working out a deal with Democrats on border security are staking their hopes on those who are close to Trump, hoping they can prevent him from sinking it.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, requested that colleagues who have endorsed the former president ask him to stop disparaging the deal pending a review of its details by lawmakers this week.