Geraldo Rivera told MSNBC’s Ari Melber that he’d pull no punches — literally — with top Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller over the latter’s hardline and “draconian” anti-immigration policies.
Rivera, 81, said ― during a discussion on NBC News’ reporting that the incoming Trump White House is thinking about carrying out what the outlet described as a “showcase” immigration raid to send a message in the first days of Trump’s second term — that he’d return to boxing just to punch Miller “in the nose.”
“You know, I’m an old man now. I’ve been a boxer all my life. I’ve given it up because of my frailty,” Rivera told Melber. “But I would come back to punch Stephen Miller in the nose because he is the most hideous, in terms of his policy.”
“I don’t know the guy personally. But In terms of his policy, he is absolutely draconian. He’s the definition of it,” Rivera continued. “He doesn’t want to resolve the issue. He wants to scapegoat certain people that will, in his mind […] it would resound favorably to President Trump.
“I think it’s a horrible idea,” he added of the raid report, predicting it would heighten uncertainty among immigrants and infuriate and motivate Democrats with little political gain for Trump.
Miller was the architect of Trump’s first-term immigration policies and will serve as White House deputy chief of staff for policy when Trump returns to the Oval Office in less than two weeks.
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Former Fox News personality Rivera, meanwhile, was a close friend of Trump for years before things between the duo turned sour when Rivera called out the businessman-turned-politician’s 2020 election lies.
Rivera suggested Trump should use his self-described “dealmaker” status to tackle immigration. “He did it in his other life when I knew him better. Now make a deal,” he urged Trump.
Melber concluded the discussion by asserting that, “We on ‘The Beat’ oppose all types of violence.”