Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday responded to a tweet from President Trump after the president attacked Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on immigration and referenced Tuesday’s terrorist attack in New York City.
Flake responded to Trump’s assertion that a “Chuck Schumer beauty,” the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, allowed 29-year-old suspect Sayfullo Saipov to enter the country by reminding Trump that the 2013 “Gang of Eight” immigration reforms, written in part by Schumer, actually would have eliminated the program.
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“The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty,” Trump tweeted early Tuesday. “I want merit based.”
“Actually, the Gang of 8, including @SenSchumer, did away with the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know, I was there,” Flake tweeted at Trump in response.
The “Gang of Eight” was a bipartisan group of senators who wrote a 2013 immigration reform bill that passed the Senate with support from every Democrat and many Republicans. The bill, however, never made it to President Obama’s desk as then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) didn’t bring the bill to a vote in the lower chamber.
Flake has been an outspoken critic of Trump after denouncing the president in a fiery speech on the Senate floor earlier this month. In a follow-up interview with The Washington Post, Flake said he “couldn’t sleep at night” supporting the president any longer.
“I couldn’t sleep at night having to embrace the president or condoning his behavior or being OK with some of his positions,” Flake told the Post.