Former President Trump visited Ohio on Saturday to cheer on Republican businessman Bernie Moreno, who is seeking to win the state’s primary to run for U.S. Senate against Democrat Sherrod Brown.
During the rally in Dayton, Trump repeatedly cited the surge of illegal immigrants crossing the border, violent immigration crimes and the death of Laken Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia.
“No more American lives should be lost to immigrant crimes. “We can’t have another Laken,” the potential 2024 Republican nominee said in a statement, adding: “We cannot have another Laken. He repeatedly criticized President Biden’s policies that have brought millions of immigrants into the United States, including “violent gang members and gangsters.”
“If I become President of the United States, I will demand justice for Laken from day one. My administration will end all open border policies of the Biden administration.”
He added: “The quickest way to reverse all of Mr. Biden’s misfortunes is to very simply put me back in office.”
Trump’s visit comes three days before Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary, in which Moreno faces state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Regarding the Ohio Senate race, President Trump called Moreno a “hero” and a “winner” and urged voters to elect him to replace “Democratic radical leftist Sherrod Brown.”
“Ohio needs to defeat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, a horrible radical leftist who pretends to be my best friend. He pretends to be my best friend and always runs to the radical left. ” Trump told a large crowd in the Dayton suburb of Vandalia.
“When I listen to his commercials, it sounds like he’s running with Trump. He’s not. He’s not with me.”
The U.S.-Mexico border was the focus of Biden’s speech in Ohio, as well as Biden’s border policies, which Trump criticized as allowing violent migrants into the United States.
President Trump said of the border: “We’re going to fix it again.”
“Among my first acts will be to stop the invasion of our country and send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back to their homeland.”
Trump also took issue with Biden’s apology last week for using the word “unlawful” to describe Riley’s suspected killer during his State of the Union address.
“They created a new term for people coming into our country,” the former president said of the Biden administration.
“They call them ‘neighbors.'”
That line was an apparent reference to a recent White House handout that referred to illegal immigrants as “newcomers.”
“A week ago, I met with the family of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was tragically killed last month during a morning run in Georgia,” the former president said Saturday.
“She was so badly beaten that she was beyond recognition. Laken’s killer was allowed to flee to the United States through Joe Biden’s program to release military-age men who crossed the southern border illegally into the community. .”
He added, “If Biden hadn’t launched this barbaric attack on America, Laken Riley would still be alive today. And that’s what he did. Instead of apologizing to him, he apologized to the murderer for calling him illegal. He shouldn’t have done that.”
“We believe that Laken’s killer is a criminal illegal alien. He is an illegal monster. He should never have come to our country,” President Trump said.
He also specifically mentioned members of the notoriously violent MS-13 Mexican gang who entered the United States.
“if you can [even] We call them people. I don’t know if I’d call them people. In my opinion, in some cases, they’re not human, but the radical left says that’s a terrible thing, so I’m not allowed to say that,” Trump chided.
President Trump repeatedly criticized Biden in his speech, with the former president calling him a “great threat to our democracy.”
“Remember, Joe Biden is a huge threat to our democracy,” President Trump told the roaring Dayton crowd.
“He is a tremendous threat to our democracy, primarily because of his incompetence. He is also using the Department of Justice and the FBI to go after his political opponents, which is me.”
President Trump said of Biden, “We’ve never had a president this bad.”
“Nothing like that has ever happened. He’s incompetent and crooked.”
The former president called on people to go to the polls on Tuesday and elect him and other Republicans in November.
“But with your vote, we’re going to take back the Senate. We’re going to win Ohio in November. We’re going to win by a landslide,” President Trump said.
During his speech, President Trump had a noticeable problem with the wind affecting his teleprompter.
He used the moment to take another swipe at Biden.
“It is possible to give a speech without using a teleprompter,” he argued.
“Wouldn’t it be great to have a president who doesn’t have to use a teleprompter?”
Trump then summarized his 2024 campaign argument with four priorities: closing borders, stopping inflation, drilling for oil, and preventing World War III.
Moreno, an immigrant who entered the United States legally from Colombia and later became a successful Cleveland-based businessman and major luxury car dealer, was endorsed by President Trump in December.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Brown, the only Democrat to win a statewide race in Ohio over the past decade, in November.
The seat is being contested as Republicans seek to gain a majority in the U.S. Senate.
Democrats control a slim 51-49 majority, but Republicans have a favorable Senate map in 2024, with Democrats holding 23 of the 34 seats at stake.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
