Arizona Republican Kari Lake slammed Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) for flip-flopping on the border wall at Wendesday night’s U.S. Senate debate in the Grand Canyon State.
Gallego, who was a staunch critic of former President Donald Trump’s border wall, claimed he believes “a border wall is important” to a southern border security package when asked if his opinion on walls had evolved.
While Gallego attempted to portray himself and his record as moderate, Lake brought receipts exposing his disdain for the Trump border wall when the former president was commander-in-chief.
“I just jotted down Ruben’s exact quote. He called it the dumb, stupid border wall,” Lake said.
Indeed, Gallego did slam the border wall as “stupid” and “dumb,” as Business Insider reported in 2017.
“He wrote an op-ed that said why we should never build Trump’s wall ever. So we’re getting the Extreme Makeover version of Ruben tonight,” she added.
Again, in 2017, Gallego’s official congressional page features an opinion piece titled “Why we should not build Trump’s border wall.” In it, Gallego wrote that “Trump’s border wall is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.”
Lake, a former news anchor for Fox 10 Phoenix, referred to her days covering the border as a journalist and said Trump actually brought border security after empty promises from career politicians:
Remember, I covered the state for 27 years. I was in your home, and all that time, we watched as career politicians said they were going to secure the border and give us border security, and they never did, until President Trump came along and actually secured the border. But he had to do with one hand tied behind his back, because people like my opponent were fighting him every step of the way, would not give a penny for that border wall, that border wall keeps us safe.
Lake also ripped Gallego for touting the immigration bill, which Democrats have characterized as a “bipartisan” border bill, and attempting to use it as ammunition in the debate.
“That piece of legislation, thank you for reminding me, I am not for it,” Lake quipped. “It is because it would codify into law 5,000 people every day coming in illegally. That means 5,000 people every day would be pouring across our border illegally.”
Indeed, the legislation would have allowed for up to 5,000 illegal border crossings daily, according to Rosemary Jenks with the Immigration Accountability Project.
