Conservatives lash out at Trump after alleged DACA agreement with Pelosi, Schumer
Conservatives are lashing out against President Trump after Democratic leaders in Congress claimed that they had reached a deal with the president to draft legislation that would protect people who came to the U.S. illegally as children and include border security measures, excluding the wall.
In a joint statement Wednesday night following dinner with Mr. Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said, "We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides."
While the president denied Thursday morning on Twitter that a deal was reached, he seemed to repeat the parameters of the agreement as he left the White House for a day-trip to Florida.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who has been a major supporter of Mr. Trump and his immigration policies, tweeted Thursday that Trump is leading with "DACA Amnesty 2017."
Reagan led with Amnesty, 1986. Bush43 led with Amnesty '06, Obama led with Amnesty '13. All failed so...Trump leads with DACA Amnesty 2017.
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) September 14, 2017
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, didn't seem happy Thursday.
@realDonaldTrump Morn news says u made deal w Schumer on DACA/hv ur staff brief me/ I know u undercut JudiCimm effort 4 biparty agreement
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 14, 2017
Breitbart, the conservative site run by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, posted a headline, "Amnesty Don." Right-wing activist Ann Coulter even suggested on Twitter that the president should be impeached.
At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached? https://t.co/g1mMhmm8ng
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017
Fox News host Sean Hannity tweeted that he blames Republicans.
If reports true 100%. I blame R's. They caused this. They wanted him to fail and now pushed him into arms of political suicide--IF TRUE. https://t.co/WTqe6jzfa9
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) September 14, 2017
Some Republicans, on the other hand, praised the president, including Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, and Rep. Peter King, R-New York.
Kudos to @POTUS for pursuing agreement that will protect #Dreamers from deportation https://t.co/2nRYOv82RO
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) September 14, 2017
Memo to Freedom Caucus: Trump base is the American people not a small faction of obstructionists! Kudos to @POTUS Trump.
— Rep. Pete King (@RepPeteKing) September 14, 2017
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, who's retiring, weighed in Thursday morning about the mixed messages from both sides.
.@POTUS is once again playing w DREAMers' futures. That doesn't show "great heart" either. They should b allowed 2 stay. Let's make that law
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) September 14, 2017
Democrats, meanwhile, were applauding their leaders for negotiating an initial agreement.
Chuck and Nancy are good at their jobs.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) September 14, 2017