Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hat-tipped The Drudge Report at a campaign stop in Iowa Saturday, thanking the influential website for carrying a story about his recent visit to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump spoke in front of a packed crowd in Oskaloosa in his first campaign visit to the state. He spent much time focused on immigration issues and border security and discussed the recent murder of 32-year-old Kate Steinle, who was gunned down by a five times-deported illegal alien earlier this month.
Recounting his visit to Laredo earlier this week, Trump said that as he was arriving in the border city, a group of illegal border-crossers from Mexico were filmed swimming across the Rio Grande into the U.S. with big bags of drugs.
“So while we were there, you probably read it. It was a Drudge, who is great by the way,” Trump said.
“But the story on Drudge, big story, it’s all over the place now,” Trump said, referring to an article from the website InfoWars which The Drudge Report linked to. “Guys swimming across and big bags of stuff — it’s drugs — swimming across the river. Swimming right across.”
Trump went to Laredo after being invited to by the National Border Patrol Council, the union which represents U.S. Border Patrol agents. A local chapter of the union pulled out ahead of Trump’s visit, but he went anyway.
During the speech, Trump admitted that he was a little bit scared during his trip to Laredo. His wife, Melania, was too, he said.
“So, I went to Laredo. And my wife came home and she was crying, and I said to myself, ‘why are you crying?,'” Trump said.
“You made it home, you made it safely,” Melania told him. “She was crying. Tears were coming down her face because she thought it was dangerous.”
“But it was a little bit scary going over the border,” Trump admitted.
Trump’s love for The Drudge Report is not unrequited. The site, which is operated by Matt Drudge, has shown some favoritism towards the real estate mogul so far during the campaign. The site often links to stories about Trump and features them prominently on the site. The Drudge Report has for years focused on border security issues and illegal immigration. The site has been heavily critical of President Obama’s numerous amnesty programs.
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