Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) hit back at El Salvador President Nayib Bukele during a press conference on Friday after Van Hollen landed back in the U.S. following his meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant that the Trump administration deported and imprisoned in El Salvador by “error.”
“Did you have a sense of his health, his well-being, did you get any indication that he had been abused?” a reporter asked Van Hollen during a lengthy Q&A.
“I did not get that sense. Look, you never know, but I asked him if he was okay. He said yes. He said he has a blood pressure condition. He has seen a doctor. So, you know, on a cursory examination, he appeared okay,” Van Hollen replied, adding:
Now I will say, just to be clear, there was some negotiation about the terms of this meeting and he was, we were kind of surrounded by video cameras, so I do want to, I do wanna say that that was the setting he was in.
I should also just say, you know I’ve mentioned the fake Margarita scandal, they actually wanted to have the meeting by the side of the pool, right, in the hotel. I mean, this is a guy who’s been in CECOT, this is the guy who has been detained. They want to create this appearance that, life was just lovely for Kilmar, which of course is a big fat lie.
The New York Times reported earlier in the day on the margaritas in a photo that Bukele, who has called himself the “world’s coolest dictator,” posted to social media. The Times reported:
Mr. Bukele, in a social media post, even crowed that “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’” was “now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” But according to a person familiar with the situation, a Bukele aide placed the two glasses with cherries and salted rims on the table in front of Mr. Van Hollen and Mr. Abrego Garcia in the middle of their meeting in an attempt to stage the photo.
Earlier in the presser, Van Hollen mentioned “Margarita Gate” and made clear, “Neither of us touched the drinks that were in front of us… Nobody drank any margaritas.” He later added, “This is the lesson in the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on.”
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
