WASHINGTON–President Donald Trump blasted Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) on Wednesday over their bill, which would require Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to display legible identification and prohibit them from wearing face coverings.
A reporter asked Trump during a multilateral meeting with African leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House if he would ever sign the bill, called “the VISIBLE Act,” should it reach his desk. He responded by saying Booker and Padilla hate America.
“Well, they wouldn’t be saying that if they didn’t hate our country, and they obviously do,” he said. “I’m surprised that they would do it, knowing a little bit about them, I don’t know them well. But these officers are doing a tremendous job. They’re great patriots.”
“If you expose them, because of…statements like have been made by Democrats and others on the left…I think probably exclusively, you put them in great danger, tremendous danger,” he added.
Trump then highlighted that Democrats do not take issue with protesters, like those seen on college campuses, regularly sporting more than just masks to hide their faces, as they do with ICE and CBP officers.