Former President Bill Clinton 's attempt to pin the blame on former President Donald Trump for the death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley backfired after his comments were used as a soundbite by the Republican presidential nominee's campaign.
Clinton, who has been dispatched to Georgia to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris , was trying to make a broader case that Trump is responsible for her death because he told Republicans in Congress to vote against an immigration bill earlier this year.
"Trump killed the bill. The bill was being written by senior Republicans in the Senate, and he killed the bill. Why?" Clinton said during a stop in Fort Valley, Georgia .
Trump's campaign clipped the second part of Clinton's comment in a post to X, deploying it on social media, where it then was recirculated by Trump-friendly surrogates and supporters.
"You got a case in Georgia not very long ago, didn't you — they made an ad about it," Clinton said, referencing the killing of Laken Riley. "A young woman who had been killed by an immigrant. Yeah, well, if they'd all been properly vetted, that probably wouldn't have happened."
Bill Clinton says Laken Riley's death "probably wouldn't have happened" if Kamala did her job at the border, continues on to imply that we need illegal immigrants for cheap labor.
He was supposed to be campaigning FOR Kamala. YIKES. pic.twitter.com/k55Ee8rVH3
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom)
October 14, 2024 Trump's campaign, which is heavily focused on reducing illegal immigration, said Clinton was making the point for them. "He was supposed to be campaigning FOR Kamala," the Trump War Room account posted on X. "YIKES."
During his comments, Clinton accused Trump of hampering the bill because "there wouldn't be a problem [if it passed], and he couldn't keep people all torn up and upset."
Nevertheless, Clinton's defense of Harris, who he stated was "the only candidate who has actually endorsed a bill that would hold down immigration in any given year to a certain point," might be causing new headaches for her as the timeline of Clinton's story doesn't line up.
The illegal immigrant accused of killing Riley, Jose Antonio Ibarra, crossed the border in September 2022, was released into the United States, and then was arrested in February. That's the same month the Senate voted on the border bill, so even if it passed, it would not have made a difference in the Riley case.
"Kamala Harris and extreme House Democrats' embrace of far-left open-border policies even has Bill Clinton saying they went too far," National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Will Reinert said. "Unfortunately, swing-district House Democrats voted against every reasonable border security bill this Congress that could have saved Laken Riley's life."
Clinton also raised a few eyebrows by saying there's a need for increased immigration due to low birthrates.
"I don't think Americans are anti-immigration, they're anti-chaos," Clinton said during a speech in Columbus, Georgia. "They recognize, at least most people do, we've got the lowest birthrate we've had in well over 100 years. We're not at replacement level, which means we've got to have somebody come here if we want to keep growing the economy."
"Unless one of you is one of these artificial intelligence geniuses and figured out how we can all grow with no work," he added as a joke. "Which I'm not sure would be good for us. I think it helps us a little to get up and go to work every day.”
Bill Clinton on migrants: "Most Americans recognize ... we got the lowest birthrate we’ve had in well over a hundred years, we’re not a replacement level, which means we’ve gotta have somebody come here if we want to grow the economy" pic.twitter.com/PdLvxeuAtM
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott)
October 14, 2024 Former Trump adviser Steve Cortes shared a clip of Clinton speaking and added , "Democrats want to replace American citizens with migrants."
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Clinton is touring rural Georgia, a key swing state, as the Harris campaign looks to shore up support among black voters, with whom he is especially popular.
Trump is leading Harris in the Peach State by a narrow 0.5-percentage-point margin, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average . Democrats are hoping to keep Georgia in their corner after unexpectedly winning the state four years ago.
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