President Obama is refusing to secure the border until Congress reaches a breakthrough on comprehensive immigration reform, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said at a recent town hall meeting.
The No. 2 Senate Republican, in a video clip posted on YouTube showing the senator speaking to a local Tea Party crowd on Friday, said the president told him during a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office that he was concerned he wouldn't win GOP support on immigration legislation if he took care of border security first.
"The problem is, he said, if we secure the border, then you all won't have any reason to support comprehensive immigration reform," Kyl said, as the crowd in the room gasped loudly. "In other words, they're holding it hostage."
The White House denied the claim on Monday. Spokesman Bill Burton and Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer both said Kyl "knows" Obama did not make that comment to him in their meeting.
"The president didn't say that and Senator Kyl knows it," Pfeiffer said in a written statement. "There are more resources dedicated toward border security today than ever before, but, as the president has made clear, truly securing the border will require a comprehensive solution to our broken immigration system."
Burton repeated the claim at the press briefing Monday afternoon.
But Kyl's office stood by the senator's account. Kyl spokesman Ryan Patmintra said, "There were two people in that meeting, and Dan Pfieffer was not one of them." He said Pfeiffer's call for comprehensive immigration legislation "only confirms" Kyl's story.
And later, Kyl himself affirmed to Fox News the accuracy of his version: “I portrayed our conversation totally accurately ... The president cannot say that what I said was incorrect.”
While Obama has pledged to send an influx of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, Kyl said in the clip that the president made clear to him that border security is just a political tool in the broader goal of passing an immigration package through Congress.
In the town hall meeting, Kyl said he was "not so sure" the president's concern about GOP support was legitimate, but that regardless, the administration has an "obligation" to secure the border.
"They don't want to secure the border unless and until it is combined with comprehensive immigration reform," Kyl said. "They frankly don't want to do it. They want to get something in return for doing their duty."
in other words kyl took the liberty of assuming what obama mean't and that obama never spoke those words.. but hey he's anti obama so jack puts his nutsack in his mouth...And later, Kyl himself affirmed to Fox News the accuracy of his version: “I portrayed our conversation totally accurately ... The president cannot say that what I said was incorrect.”
I thought this was so funny, seeing the Q&A in the aftermath.
The White House denied the allegation, but then made statements that completely supported Kyl's allegations.
Obumbler's dimwits at large...
It was a completely accurate assumption. It is correct that the administration never said those words, but they refuse to do border enforcement without amnesty, etc.
So Kyl made it up...
so you are ok with kyl lying about what oabama said.. cool
lol gasped loudly
No, it's called deductive reasoning, or Obama really did say that to him. Either way, the jist of the statement is true.
Ooops...
Sorry, I forgot who I was speaking to. You lib s don't know what that is.
Why didn't Bush secure the border?
so he didn't say what kyl claimed..
why did clinton not
lets keep blaming others and not solve the problem
some people and some people kids
Let's not look to the past, but the future.
To have a future fence, control, etc. we have to implement it sometime.
I believe he did, but even if he misspoke Obama's words, or yes, lied, he did put into words the Obama administration tactics that they will not admit.
There is no dispute of that...
Liberals... Democrats...
Could someone please tell me why congress and the president will not secure the border without other things attached?
Please? What is the rationale if not hold it hostage for other things?
The question shouldn't be if Kyl lied or not, because none of us was there. It's one man's word against another.
The question should be if the implication of his words are true or not.
yeah I chuckled at that too.
Judging from the article, you are completely incorrect. Kyl implies he is simply paraphrasing the President's words, ie an indirect quote. Indirect quotes are used every day, in roughly every single news article and broadcast, and are completely legitimate provided the exact meaning of the speaker's words is not distorted. That is certainly arguable in this case, but as for Kyl making it up .. well, you made that up.
Well......you just cant fool a blow fly, now can you. They know bull
when they see it.
A fly lands on President Barack Obama's face
A fly lands on President Barack Obama's face as he delivers remarks on the Affordable Care Act and the New Patients Bill of Rights, Tuesday, June 22, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.… Read more »
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slides...2782eda77ca57/
lol at your sig. McCarthyism 2010 edition. Really Communism? Still!?! Can't you guys find another boogeyman?
Hmmm...
Communism... Communal... Sharing... Socialism.
What else do you call lefties? It's all in the same box.
You're blaming Obama.
obama ran on fixing the problem
he has done nothing except threaten a state with a lawsuit that is trying to do something about it since he will not
it was not obama fault
the boarders have been unsecure for a very long time!
He ran on comprehensive immigration reform, which is what everyone says he is now pushing.
Go figure.
This reminds me of a slightly funny moment in an otherwise mediocre movie. In Jarhead, Maggie Gylenhaal's brother is digging his own sleeping ditch with his Platoon mates and a helicopter flies overhead and its playing Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower and Maggie's bro shouts out "That's Vietnam music!! Can't we even get our own ing music?!?!"
Repugs had 8 years to secure the border and reform immigration.
What happened?
The Repugs like to kick ass, bully, shakedown corps, etc, but when Magic Negro and the Dems do the same, they whine like the little pussies they are.
And where are the Repug proposals for securing the border and reforming immigration? Do we have another "budget without numbers" Repug moment?
Oh, I see what you did there.
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