Trump Opens Up About His Relationship With Thune as Senate Struggles to Pass SAVE America Act

President Donald Trump told Punchbowl News on Friday that he has “no disconnect” with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., but understands the importance of pushing to pass the budget resolution, which includes provisions of the SAVE America Act.

Election integrity provisions—such as requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, providing identification to cast a ballot, and eliminating mail-in ballots—have become central to the debate over the current budget resolution that would kickstart the drafting process for another budget reconciliation package. Senate Republicans continue to debate how exactly those provisions could be added to a budget reconciliation package, and what election integrity measures have enough support in the GOP conference to reach 50 votes. In the president’s interview with Punchbowl News, it appeared the president could be willing to drop one of these election integrity provisions to secure the votes of Republican holdouts.

‘John Is Trying,’ Trump Says of Senate Majority Leader

“It doesn’t look like the budget resolution is getting on the floor this week; that resolution carries the blueprint for the SAVE America Act,” PunchBowl’s Jake Sherman told the president. “Thune says it doesn’t have the votes. He says he doesn’t see a pathway to 50, 51. Doesn’t have 60—Democrats aren’t voting for it. But you seem to think it does, or they should try or something.”

“What’s the disconnect between you and Thune?” Sherman asked.

Trump responded that “we have no disconnect, we have a good relationship.” However, Trump emphasized that he finds passing the SAVE America Act language included in the budget resolution “very important,” which Thune has repeatedly said he does not have the votes for.

“You can’t get any more basic than that. In other words, we want to see your citizenship, we want to make sure you are a citizen to vote, we like photo ID just to make sure, because the elections are rigged in this country, the elections are a mess,” the president said.

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Trump compared the state of the American election system to that of a third-world country.

“We’re like a Third-World country, in many cases, in many states. Third-World country,” Trump said. “So, I think the SAVE America Act is a very important thing.” He used the recent Los Angeles mayoral primary that featured Spencer Pratt as an example.

“John is trying, he’s trying hard, I really believe that, but if he doesn’t get there, it will be unfortunate,” the president added, but also pushed Thune to bring the resolution up for a vote so he could “see the people who vote against it.”

Mail-In Ballot Provision

During the interview, the president signaled he was open to removing the mail-in ballot provision if it meant more Republicans could support other election integrity items.

“If you even take the ballots out of it, you know the ballots are very important, but we can do that another time,” the president said.

Removing the mail-in ballot provision could potentially win at least one of the Senate Republican holdouts on the SAVE America Act.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has publicly opposed the president’s suggestion to ban mail-in ballots, stating that many of her voters live in rural areas and rely on this voting method.

In July, Murkowski wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in which she stated that while she supports the SAVE America Act’s “core tenets,” such as provisions that ensure that “only American citizens vote and requiring identification when voting,” she remains “opposed to it.”

“Why? Because it would have serious negative effects in Alaska, and the current text doesn’t allow for the time and resources needed for proper implementation,” the senator continued.

Previously, Murkowski, as well as Republican Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voted against an effort by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., to attach the SAVE America Act to a budget reconciliation bill in April.

McConnell, Collins, and Murkowski did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on whether they would now be in favor of the budget resolution bill if the mail-in ballot provisions were removed.