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White House on Biden Not Meeting with Border Chief: ‘He’s Engaged’ — He’s Visited Border Twice
On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby responded to claims from former Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz that he never spoke with either President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris during his tenure running the agency from August 2021 to the end of June 2023 by stating that Biden is engaged with DHS and Border Patrol and visited the border for the second time last week.
Host Martha MacCallum asked, [relevant exchange begins around 1:25] “You say he’s ‘actively engaged,’ and yet, according to his former Border Patrol Chief, who spoke out on ‘60 Minutes,’ Raul Ortiz, he never spoke with the President the entire time he was the border Chief overseeing 21,000 agents or the Vice President. Given the fact that this is the number 1 issue for voters in every primary state we’ve covered so far, John, how is that possible?”
Kirby responded, “Well, you saw the President down at Brownsville last week, Martha. That’s the second visit down to the border. He obviously has a close relationship with Secretary Mayorkas and everybody at DHS. He had a chance to meet directly with border agents down there in Brownsville. This is an issue he knows is important to the American people. It’s important to him. And frankly, Martha, that’s why it was so important for the Senate to pass that bipartisan bill, which included significant changes, not only in border security, but immigration policy, and now it’s languishing because the House won’t take it up. The President’s willing to negotiate and compromise and talk about all these things and move forward. That’s why he asked for the national security supplemental.”
MacCallum then cut in to ask, “John, how has he never spoken to — and we did some reporting on this earlier today — not only Raul Ortiz, the former Chief of the Border Patrol, but the current chief of the Border Patrol, Chief Owens, who, you pointed out, he did meet with in Brownsville. But from, what we could find out, they had never spoken before that. How is that possible?”
Kirby answered, “The President’s engaged with DHS. He’s engaged with leadership there –.”
MacCallum then cut in to ask, “But why not the Border Patrol?”
Kirby answered, “He’s engaged with the Border Patrol, Martha. He was just down there in Brownsville meeting and talking to those folks directly and hearing from them about the situation on the ground.”
MacCallum followed up, “But he never met with the former or current Chief. The current Chief, he just met. He’s been President for three years, just met him the other day.”
Kirby responded, “He, again, is engaged with everybody at DHS, including the Border Patrol, down there in Brownsville talking to them on the ground, hearing from them directly about what their concerns are.”
MacCallum then asked, “But just to confirm that record, you’re telling — they never met before Thursday, correct, or spoke?”
Kirby responded, “I don’t have the President’s daily calendar with me in terms of like who he’s met specifically with. But the idea that he’s somehow disengaged from the Border Patrol just flies in the face of the facts.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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