Pa. Rep. Joyce’s Arizona border trip gets some Trump Twitter attention

WASHINGTON — The trip that U.S. Rep. John Joyce, of Pennsylvania, recently took to the Arizona-Mexico border with some of his Republican colleagues got some Twitter attention from President Trump on Thursday.

U.S. Rep. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., organized the trip for Joyce, R-13th District.  On Thursday Trump retweeted a post from Biggs heralding the trip. Biggs, of Arizona’s 5th District, is a vocal supporter of Trump’s calls for a beefed up border wall.

“I’m grateful for my colleagues who accompanied me to the border to view the crisis w/ their own eyes,” Biggs wrote. “It’s one thing to talk about this crisis from our districts; it’s another entirely to walk w/ agents on the ground to experience their everyday realities.”

I’m grateful for my colleagues who accompanied me to the border to view the crisis w/ their own eyes. It’s one thing to talk about this crisis from our districts; it’s another entirely to walk w/ agents on the ground to experience their everyday realities https://t.co/172RAb7E6g pic.twitter.com/EInq35AqGY

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) April 24, 2019

All nine congressional representatives whose districts line the 2,000-mile southern border, including one Republican, oppose Trump’s border wall, CBS News reported earlier this year.

The presidential retweet came as Trump on Thursday morning retweeted a flurry of posts from Republican members of Congress attacking Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, criticizing Democratic lawmakers and backing Trump’s calls for a national emergency along the southern U.S. border.

Trump also retweeted to his nearly 60 million Twitter followers posts from Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz — who joined the delegation to the border — and GOP Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio.

"The man who killed my son never did a day in prison. Not one day."

On January 22nd, 2015, Grant Ronnebeck was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant over a pack of cigarettes. Listen to his father's story: pic.twitter.com/j0MrtpQv33

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 24, 2019

Trump authored some tweets of his own on Thursday morning, including taking a jab at former Vice President Joe Biden as he formally jumped into the 2020 presidential race.

He wrote to Biden: “Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty – you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!”

The GOP delegation to the southern U.S. border made headlines when Joyce’s office had to correct the south-central Pennsylvania lawmaker’s claims that there were cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis among the migrants who were picked up by border agents in Yuma County, Ariz.

Joyce’s spokesman, Andrew Romeo, told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star that the congressman had based his erroneous claim on information provided to him by former Arizona GOP state chairman Jonathan Lines, who was the delegation’s guide during its trip to Yuma.