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Donald Trump Jr. is warning Senate Republicans against "colluding" with Senate Leader Chuck Schumer on the border bill being negotiated in Congress and threatening to launch a primary challenge against any GOP lawmakers who help Democrats deliver more aid to Ukraine.
"Senate GOP Leadership is colluding with Chuck Schumer and the Democrats to ram thru a Ukraine First bailout bill in the Senate. Any Republican who stands with Chuck Schumer to send billions more to Ukraine is a total sellout and deserves a Primary," Trump Jr. said in a Wednesday post on X, formerly Twitter. "No more America Last RINOs!!!"
Schumer is reportedly planning to force a vote on a paired-down foreign aid package as early as Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans have endorsed the idea, which would possibly give Schumer the necessary 60 votes he'd need to push it forward.
The move comes a day after Republicans signaled they would kill the border security bill that one of their own and most conservative members, Senator James Lankford, negotiated with Democrats.
Overruled by opposition from members of his own party, McConnell admitted there would be no path to passage on Tuesday, telling reporters: "We had a very robust discussion about whether or not this product could ever become law. And it's been made pretty clear to us by the speaker that it will not become law."
Former President Donald Trump had been staunchly opposed to the $118 billion border package, labeling it "a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party" and urging GOP lawmakers to reject any deal that didn't give them "everything" they wanted.
Trump Jr.'s remarks come in response to a message from Senator J.D. Vance, a staunch Trump ally, that blasted the foreign age package as "a disaster" that could make the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border worse and "really the worst of all possible worlds."
"There's [a] Ukraine first package being shoved down the throat of the US Senate," Vance said in a post on X. "It doesn't secure our border, gives away all leverage to achieve real border security, and no one has had time to read through the details. Let's defeat this package. We have to."
Concerns over immigration have emerged as a leading voting issue ahead of the 2024 election. A new CNN poll released last week found that nearly 8 in 10 Americans say the situation at the border is a crisis.
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About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more