A Republican senator says President Donald Trump is unfairly blaming a Democrat for an immigration initiative that Trump says let the man who carried out the deadly New York City attack enter the United States.
GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona says New York Democrat Chuck Schumer was among a group of eight Republican and Democratic senators who proposed eliminating the diversity visa program three years ago as part of a broader bipartisan bill to overhaul U.S. immigration laws.
Flake, who served on the "Gang of Eight" with Schumer, says: "I know. I was there."
The immigration bill ultimately failed in the GOP-led House after passing the Senate in June 2013.
Flake recently announced he's not running for re-election but says he won't be silent about Trump's politics and behavior.
The Senate's top Democrat is hitting back after President Donald Trump faulted him for an immigration program that Trump says allowed the man in the deadly New York City bike path attack to enter the United States.
Chuck Schumer says in a statement that "I have always believed and continue to believe that immigration is good for America."
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