Former president delays border deal to ‘hurt Biden’ in election

‘Trump doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it’

DONALD TRUMP is working to delay a deal on border security measures to undermine Joe Biden’s re-election prospects, Mitt Romney said.

The Utah senator and former Republican presidential nominee said Mr Trump had encouraged GOP senators to reject a long-awaited agreement with the White House that would authorise new funding for Ukraine.

In exchange, the proposed deal would have seen Mr Biden announce tighter rules to control illegal immigration along the border with Mexico.

But Mr Trump wanted to block the pact in order to be able to blame the president for immigration problems in the run-up to November’s election, Mr Romney said.

Mitch Mcconnell, the GOP minority leader in the Senate who has previously been supportive of additional aid for Ukraine, said on Wednesday that the politics of the deal had “changed” and any agreement would now be seen as a win for Mr Biden.

He suggested that a border deal was no longer viable because it could “undermine” Mr Trump in this year’s election campaign, adding that the former president’s opposition to an agreement had put his party “in a quandary”.

Mr Romney said it was “appalling” that Mr Trump would orchestrate the collapse of a deal in order to extend problems at the border so he could “take credit for solving” the crisis if he wins the election.

“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump, and the fact he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling,” he said.

“The reality is that we have a crisis at the border, the American people are suffering as a result of what is happening at the border, and someone running for president ought to try and get the problem solved, as opposed to saying: ‘Hey, save that problem, don’t solve it, let me take credit for solving it later’.”

The likely collapse of an agreement comes after months of wrangling between Mr Biden’s team and GOP legislators, in an attempt to agree a budget for sending more weapons to Kyiv.

The previously allocated funds have been spent, leaving the White House unable to transfer any more arms. Mr Biden’s national security adviser has warned the hold-up will lead to Ukraine running out of the air defence missiles it uses to defend civilian and military targets from Russian attacks.

Mr Trump, who is the runaway favourite to win the Republican presidential nomination later this year, has publicly opposed continued weapons transfers from the US to Ukraine and pledged to end the war “in one day” if he returns to the White House.

Although Ukraine had enjoyed support from both parties in both houses of Congress, Republicans have shifted in recent months and have been demanding major concessions on border control in exchange for backing more aid.

Mr Biden’s requested $61billion (£48billion) military aid package has languished in Congress since October, with White House negotiators unwilling to compromise on key Republican demands including an end to a presidential power to allow illegal migrants into the US.

Both border control and the war have become major talking points on the Republican primary campaign trail.