CNN
By Kevin Liptak
April 5, 2016
President
Barack Obama said Tuesday that campaign trail rhetoric from leading GOP
candidates is damaging the U.S. in the eyes of foreign leaders.
He
said he receives questions "constantly" from fellow officials about the
"wackier suggestions that are being made" in the race to secure the
Republican nomination.
Those
proposals include a plan from front-runner Donald Trump that would
utilize a federal anti-terror law to require wire transfer companies to
check the legal status of immigrants before
allowing them to send money home.
Obama,
who was speaking from the White House briefing room to deliver remarks
about the U.S. economy, called that plan "impractical" with enormous
implications. His comments on the state
of the 2016 race were in response to reporters' questions.
"The
notion that we are going to track every Western Union bit of money
that's sent to Mexico -- you know, good luck with that," he said
sarcastically, saying that cutting off money to Mexico
could damage that country's economy, sending more immigrants to the
United States.
Trump's
proposal -- outlined in a campaign memo Tuesday -- would compel Mexico
to pay between $5 and $10 billion to construct a border wall by
threatening to cut off the remittances. He said
he could change a portion of the USA Patriot Act to enact the plan.
"It's
an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of $5 billion and
$10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their
country year after year," Trump's memo states.
Obama
has sharpened his criticism of Trump and other Republicans in recent
weeks, calling the tone of the GOP presidential race "vulgar" while
suggesting it is harming America's reputation
abroad.
On
Tuesday, Obama said it wasn't only Trump who was fueling the slide in
global standing, singling out some of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's immigration
proposals as "just as draconian."
"People
expect the president of the United States and the elected officials in
this country to treat these problems seriously," Obama said.
"They don't expect half-baked notions coming out of the White House. We can't afford that," the President said.
Later,
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest -- who on Monday asserted that
no damage had yet been done to the United States by Republican
candidates -- explained that meetings with leaders
had been sidetracked with talk of the campaign.
"Important
conversations that are hosted by the president of the United States, or
the President's secretary of state, are clouded by these kinds of
discussions. It's not good. It's harmful.
It makes those meetings less productive than they otherwise would be,"
Earnest said.
He
called Trump and other Republicans' rhetoric counter to U.S. values,
which he said "sends a confusing signal" to foreign populations.
"That
damage can be mitigated, if not outright eliminated, if the American
people choose to elect someone who is serious about advancing American
values," Earnest said.
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