Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reportedly became visibly upset during a classified Senate intelligence briefing on Ukraine when Republican senators raised concerns about border security. The incident occurred on Tuesday and involved top Biden administration and military officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Charles Q. Brown Jr. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) reportedly questioned the officials about the significance of securing the U.S. southern border, leading to Schumer’s reported frustration.
“I asked Gen. Brown [for] his best military advice,” Cramer said.
“Is supporting Ukraine and Israel important enough that Democrats could at least consider reluctantly supporting some southern border security?
“He wanted to talk about Ukraine.”
Senator Kevin Cramer reported that the mention of border security seemed to agitate Schumer. Nonetheless, Schumer later asserted that the Republican senators had been disrespectful to the military officials during the briefing.
“One of them started — was disrespectful — and started screaming at one of the generals and challenging him why he didn’t go to the border,” the Senate majority leader said, according to The Hill.
Schumer accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of trying to “hijack” the intelligence briefing, alleging that McConnell aimed to shift the focus from Ukraine to address Republicans’ concerns about the border crisis.
“It was immediately hijacked by Leader McConnell,” said Schumer.
“The first question — instead of asking our panelists — he called on Lankford to give a five-minute talk about the negotiations on the border, and that wasn’t the purpose of the meeting at all.
“And then when I brought up the idea that they could do an amendment and have the ability to get something done on [the] border, [Republican colleagues] got stuck.”
Independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats, reportedly concurred that the ongoing border crisis should be addressed in the meeting. King defended Republicans seeking answers on the issue.
“Sen. King said, ‘Hey, this may not have been the time that I want to discuss this, but it’s an important topic. The president put it on the agenda with the supplemental having border funding. This is the only time we’re all together, so it’s totally legitimate for us to have that discussion,’” according to a Republican senator who was familiar with the talks.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are seeking to encourage the Biden administration to take more significant actions to tackle the border crisis. While President Joe Biden is urging Congress to approve additional taxpayer funds for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) criticized the Biden administration for not adequately addressing Republicans’ concerns about the situation in Ukraine.
He also accused Biden of “continually ignoring the catastrophe at our own border.”
“House Republicans have resolved that any national security supplemental package must begin with our own border,” Johnson said.
“We believe both issues can be agreed upon if Senate Democrats and the White House will negotiate reasonably.”
