Donald Trump’s campaign manager said Wednesday that Mr. Trump’s newly announced visit to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is a “presidential move” and that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is “following the leader.”
“Mr. Trump was very excited to accept the invitation from the president in Mexico — it’s a decisive presidential move,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on NBC’s “Today” program. “He wants to establish a conversation with a neighboring country, a leader, and also to discuss the common problems and challenges that our countries face.”
“I think you’ll see a very presidential Donald Trump today meeting with the president of Mexico,” she said. “We’re just happy that the president of Mexico invited him. I’m sorry that Secretary Clinton is not going and has not accepted the invitation.”
“I mean, I feel like she keeps following the leader. We’re the leader here,” she said. “People are in need in Louisiana — we get right there. Governor Pence and Mr. Trump went right there. The president in Mexico invites us, we accept his invitation.”
Ms. Conway said she thinks the discussion will touch on illegal immigration, trade policy and jobs.
The Clinton campaign responded by pointing to Mr. Trump’s past comments calling Mexicans rapists and criminals and his pledge to build a wall along the United States’ southern border, which he says he’ll make Mexico pay for.
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“What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions,” said Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri.
Later Wednesday in Arizona, Mr. Trump is expected to provide more details on his plans for illegal immigration, which he has very publicly been weighing in recent days.
The Trump campaign has said his plans will include building the wall and that they will not include “amnesty.” Ms. Conway also alluded to Mr. Trump’s rolling back President Obama’s deportation amnesties, though she didn’t specify which ones.
“He also will repeal all these executive amnesty orders that President Obama has put into place and that a President Hillary would continue,” she said.
In his speech announcing his candidacy in June 2015, Mr. Trump said Mexico is sending rapists and people who bring drugs across the United States’ southern border, repeatedly saying later he meant that the Mexican government was shipping the people it didn’t want into the U.S.
“I said ’Mexico is sending’— I’m not knocking immigration or immigrants, but rather am very critical of the country of Mexico for sending us people that they don’t want,” Mr. Trump said in a statement in July 2015.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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