Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Monday said she was skeptical about President Trump’s suggestion to tie new gun controls to immigration reform after the weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio, saying Mr. Trump has talked big on the issue in the past before quickly walking things back.
She said Mr. Trump called for universal gun purchase background checks “nine times” at a meeting at the White House after the February 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
“Then the next day, [he] meets with the NRA and he folds,” she said on CNN’s “New Day.”
“I am ready to go back and get it done, but he would have to convince his political party in the U.S. Senate,” the Minnesota Democrat said. “You know, you can always be hopeful, there are some Republicans that have signaled support for this bill, but it’s long overdue.”
Ms. Klobuchar, a 2020 presidential candidate, said she does support comprehensive immigration reform but that Mr. Trump has “gut-punched us” on that issue as well.
“So he would really have to be serious about this, and I’ve just not seen that from him in the past,” she said. “When you see a tweet in the morning like we have thousands of times … you just look at it and say well, you know, I wish that was true - wish he actually did the work to get it done.”
Ms. Klobuchar’s comments on the president’s early-morning tweets were less strident than those from a few of her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called Mr. Trump’s suggestion “absurd” and Rep. Tim Ryan said it was an “absolute freaking joke.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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