Jake Tapper Confronts GOP Lawmaker Over Border Bill, Says It Failing Is the ‘Fault of Republicans, That’s Just Obvious’ | Video

The CNN anchor questions Rep. Tony Gonzales on if he thinks Trump is using the bill’s potential failure as an “election issue”

A white man in a suit holds a pen and stands in front of a small audience
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CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales over the floundering bipartisan border bill, saying Republicans are responsible for its potential failure.

“The fact that this bill is failing is not the fault of Democrats. The fact that this bill is failing is the fault of Republicans. That’s just obvious to anybody covering it,” Tapper said to Gonzales, who was broadcasting from Capitol Hill. “And it is the most conservative immigration bill, or border bill, that I’ve seen in this town in 25 years of covering this issue.”

The border deal hasn’t set well within some of the GOP, as conservatives and Trump allies have pushed back and called it an “amnesty bill” that “erases” U.S. borders. Trump, who stands as the GOP’s leading presidential candidate, has called it out as a “bad deal,” though some Democrats speculate Trump is condemning the bill so that it can benefit him as a talking point in his presidential campaign against President Joe Biden.

Tapper questioned Gonzales on whether or not he feels Trump is at the center of the bill’s standstill.

“Do you deny that the reason that this is falling a part is because Donald Trump wants this as an election issue?” Tapper asked. “To use as a bat to pumble Joe Biden with? Do you deny that that’s the root of the failure.”

Gonzales pointed out that there are Democrats who also don’t support the bill.

“It isn’t just Republicans, and yes, they are a lot of people that don’t want to see any change occur, that want the status to keep going,” Gonzales said. “When it comes to Donald Trump, the American people will decide in November. They want Donald Trump on the ballot. Many people want a change in which the direction is going, and many people are going to vote for Donald Trump.”

The Senate released the proposal on Sunday, supported by Democrats and a portion of the Republican caucus, though it lacks support in the GOP-controlled House. It seeks to address border-related issues, including strengthening border security, infrastructure and a process for obtaining U.S. legal status, among other items.

Watch video of the CNN segment below.

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