Manchin: Border Is Biden’s ‘Responsibility’ that He Had to Be ‘Pressed’ Into Dealing with by GOP

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) stated that the border is President Joe Biden’s “responsibility,” and he’s “been wrong” on the issue and that while Biden has engaged on the issue recently, it was after Republicans “pressed” the issue.

Manchin said, “I came to the conclusion that after I saw what happened…ten days ago or so, when the vote [in] the Senate for security of the border…which is what our Republican colleagues desired to happen, they pressed that. And they said, we’re not going to vote on any aid until we secure our border. I agreed with them. I think President Biden has been wrong on the border. It’s his responsibility, no matter what his reasoning was, to maybe help people around the world who’ve been displaced by the pandemic. But he’s come to the table now. He understands the gravity of what we’re dealing with and the danger, and he’s willing to accept and he helped negotiate a very good bill that secures the border, stops catch and release, changes the asylum definition, gives us the personnel. … And they took one thing out of that, Kaitlan, they took one thing, and the number 5,000 is what you heard. And all they said, oh, that’s 5,000 a day. They’re going to let 5,000 a day. That’s the furthest thing from the truth. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the most decent, honorable person and conservative in the entire Senate, negotiated and he wanted to make sure that 5,000 is all we can ever adjudicate.”

He added, “The border is a crisis, and I saw my friends walk away when they were determined to pass border security and they were onboard three days before that. And with Donald Trump, coming as hard as he came at them, they cowered down and walked away, I said, we’re not fixing anything in Washington.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett