‘She Said That?’: Stunned Trump Responds to Kamala Harris Statement On Border

Former President Donald Trump expressed surprise on Thursday after Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN she believed the Biden administration had managed the border effectively.

Trump, speaking in Arizona with Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, responded to Harris’s remarks from her town hall. Melugin first asked Trump for his reaction to Harris calling him a “fascist” during her conversation with Anderson Cooper.

“I have never seen anybody so inept at speaking,” Trump remarked. “Her performance was horrible. I have never seen anything like it for a high-level politician. But she did call me a fascist, and everyone knows that’s not true. They call me everything until, you know, something sticks.”

The conversation then shifted to the topic of the border, a focus of Melugin’s reporting:

MELUGIN: Harris said during the town hall that she believes they handled the border correctly. CNN pressed her: “Would you have done anything different? Do you regret anything?” She replied, “I think we did the right thing.”

TRUMP: Wait a minute. She said she handled it correctly?

MELUGIN: Correct.

TRUMP: She said that?

MELUGIN: Yes, she said, “I think we did the right thing.”

TRUMP: We allowed 21 million people in. We allowed 13,099 murderers. We allowed mental institutions from all over the world. If she said that, look, she is a grossly incompetent person. And if she said that, they had the worst border in history.

During her town hall, Harris claimed Trump “didn’t do anything” to secure the border, asserting, “What he did and how he did it didn’t make much sense because he didn’t do much of anything.”

In contrast, Trump cited his administration’s 400 miles of border wall construction and the “Remain In Mexico” policy, which significantly reduced illegal border crossings, confirmed by federal statistics and Border Patrol agents.

Many Border Patrol agents, frustrated with what they describe as inadequate support under the Biden-Harris administration, have indicated they would leave the agency if Harris is elected. Several agents told the New York Post they are unwilling to endure another four years of what one agent described as “four years of hell.” Another said, “Lots of guys who can retire will go. If Trump wins, they’ll stay.”

Reports indicate that Border Patrol has experienced substantial turnover and declining morale, with over 4,000 personnel losses since October 2020, leaving roughly 19,000 employees according to the Washington Examiner. Increased recruitment bonuses, now up to $30,000, have not resolved the staffing shortage.

Both Trump and Harris have committed to bolstering Border Patrol. Trump recently announced plans to increase the force by one-third, adding 10,000 new agents. However, agents speaking anonymously to The Post expressed concerns that, if Harris wins, her administration could face an agency in crisis as more experienced agents leave the job.

“We will have another exodus just because we will have a bunch of 20-year agents saying ‘peace out,’” one agent remarked, suggesting that many skilled agents may look for other opportunities if Harris is elected.