Republicans are slamming President Biden following his first solo press conference Thursday, with one senator calling the entire event “hard to watch.”
A number of GOP lawmakers zeroed in on the commander-in-chief’s comments on the border, specifically his blaming of the migrant crisis on his predecessor, former President Trump.
“Thousands of children are making the dangerous journey through Central America because they believe President Biden will give them amnesty when they get to the United States,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted alongside video of Biden taking a question on the migrant surge.
“When faced with these facts, he flatly denies any responsibility. This is Biden’s Border Crisis.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) also focused his ire on Biden’s immigration comments, retweeting a video of the president appearing to imply at the presser that he was not going to allow cameras in migrant facilities until after he had addressed the issues that reporters wanted to see.
“Actual transparency from Biden would be to immediately open the Donna facility to press that is at 1,556% capacity,” the border state senator wrote.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a former friend of the commander-in-chief from his days in the Senate, went after Biden on two fronts, slamming his immigration policies while questioning his awareness of the crisis itself.
“With all due respect, this press conference is hard to watch. The misinformation being given by President Biden on immigration is stunning. It’s clear he does not have the situational awareness he needs to understand what is going on at the border or how to fix it,” he wrote in one of a series of tweets.
“What’s sad is that President Biden doesn’t understand the basics about the current dynamic at the border and the ‘pull’ factors of illegal immigration,” he continued.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm run by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), tweeted out video of one of Biden’s many gaffes at the presser.
“I have never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States Senate. So the best way to get something done, if you, if you hold near and dear to you that you like to be able to, anyway,” Biden said in the video, trailing off.
“@JoeBiden’s plan for America,” the NRSC wrote as a caption.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Co.) questioned why reporters suddenly acted with decorum, following four years of raucous back-and-forth debates between then-President Donald Trump and the press corps.
“Where aren’t all the reporters interrupting him like they did to Trump for the last 4 years? It’s almost like the questions are scripted. It’s a big fraud and the American people know it,” the Colorado pol wrote.
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer took note of the lack of topics covered and the politeness of the members of the media chosen to take part in the presser.
“The President took 30 (including follow ups) questions from 10 friendly reporters for 59 minutes covering 5 subjects,” Spicer tweeted.
Fellow former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also noticed the reporters’ friendliness, writing on Twitter, “Right out of the gate, the White House press corps stands for President Biden.
“Would have been nice if they would have routinely shown that level of respect for President Trump.”
