President Donald Trump said Monday he and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have a “good relationship,” but Thune needs to get the SAVE America Act passed.
Trump was asked about his relationship with Thune aboard Air Force One en route to General Motors’ facility in Milford, Michigan, hours after he called on Thune to keep Senators in Washington to terminate the filibuster and pass the bill.
“It’s fine. I have a good relationship with John Thune. He’s just got to get his job done. You’ve got to get the SAVE America Act passed, or better than that would be the filibuster. If you terminate the filibuster, everything happens,” Trump said.
“If you don’t terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen,” he added.
Due to the filibuster, 60 votes are required to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and voter ID at the ballot box and end universal mail-in ballots with few exceptions. Because Democrats will not help Republicans, passing it with the filibuster is unlikely, but if the filibuster were lifted, Republicans could pass it with a simple majority.
Since autumn Trump has been calling on Thune and Senate Republicans to do away with the filibuster, which would allow them to pass all sorts of different bills without help from Democrats.
When asked if he wants to see Thune replaced as the top Senate Republican, Trump said, “I haven’t even thought of it.”
During the flight Trump also reiterated his call, laid out in a Truth Social post in the morning, for Senators to stay in Washington until the passage of the SAVE America Act or until they end the filibuster.
“The SAVE Act has to be done,” he said. “They shouldn’t leave town. I’m not going to stop them from doing it, but they should get the SAVE Act done. If they don’t get it done, it’s going to be a very bad thing for the party.”
“And frankly, you know, if you look at it, the SAVE Act is going to be voted against by all Democrats, just so we know. We have some Republicans that I will not comment on, a few of them, probably four that we probably won’t get the vote,” he added.
Trump said he has “too much sense” to publicly comment on the four Republicans.
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