Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid used a scathing floor speech on Monday to tie Republicans to Donald Trump’s growing list of explosive comments, including his latest accusation that an American judge of Mexican heritage cannot impartially rule on a case against Trump University.
“We are all unclear where Trump’s platform ends and Senate Republicans’ begins,” said Reid, D-Nev.
Reid accused Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of failing to explicitly denounce Trump’s comments about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel as racism. Trump said the judge should recuse himself because Trump has called for building a wall with Mexico.
“For his part, Sen. McConnell is doubling down on Trump, waging a nonstop campaign to persuade Republicans who have doubts to drop their complaints and fall in line,” Reid said.
Reid called on McConnell to publicly denounce Trump’s comments about Curiel as well as Trump’s statement that he would also question the impartiality of a Muslim judge because he has proposed a temporary ban on new Muslims entering the United States.
“The nation deserves to know how far Senate Republican support of Donald Trump extends and that starts with Republican leaders, because now there doesn’t appear to be any daylight between Donald Trump and Sen. McConnell.”
Reid also accused McConnell and Senate GOP leaders of failing to pass a $1.9 billion spending request from President Obama to fight the spreading Zika virus, because “they were too busy being a trumpet for Trump.”
Both the House and Senate have passed legislation that would provide money to battle Zika and are now working on a compromise measure that can pass both chambers.
