President Donald Trump is not exhibiting strong presidential leadership on the immigration deal, Sen. Chris Coons said Wednesday.
"Once again, we face a moment where the president is sort of jerking the wheel of the bus of our nation left and right, left and right," the Delaware Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
A tentative bipartisan deal had been worked out, but GOP lawmakers rejected it in a meeting with the president Thursday that led to reports of Trump making vulgar comments about Haiti and other African nations, The Washington Post reported.
"He could say, 'I've thought about it, I've looked at it, and frankly this deal, with one little tweak is something I can sign off on and we need to keep the government open.' It's his job, he is the president of the United States. He and his party control the Congress," Coons said.
"If this government shuts down because the Republican majority in the House can't get enough votes to pass their proposal, or because the president can't accept the very deal he asked for and was brought back to him having met the former criteria he laid out, then I think it's clearly the president's responsibility that he couldn't hear, 'yes,' on a strong bipartisan group of senators (that) made tough compromises and delivered a deal he was looking for," Coons added.
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