Ahead of Trump Speech on Shutdown over Wall, Menendez Pens Letter to Pompeo on Admin's False Border Security Claims

Statement

Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after he and other senior Trump administration officials repeatedly used false statements about suspected terrorists coming across the US-Mexico border as an excuse for President Trump's shutdown of the federal government.

"It appears that President Trump and senior members of his Administration are deliberately carrying out a misleading campaign to justify the President's ill-conceived proposal to build a wall on the southern border of the United States," wrote Menendez. "I ask that you, as our nation's chief diplomat, provide the American people with legitimate facts about security conditions along the southern border, inside Mexico, and the risks that they pose to the United States."

Citing the State Department's 2017 Country Reports on Terrorism, which found no international terrorist groups have sent operatives via Mexico into the United States, Menendez listed a series of questions to be clarified by Secretary Pompeo following his inaccurate answers to Fox News' Sean Hannity in a January 3, 2019 interview.

"The American people deserve to hear the truth from their government. Thank you in advance for your willingness to provide Members of Congress with unvarnished facts about security conditions in Mexico and at our southern border," concluded the Senator.

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