“It wasn't until that moment that I truly understood how critical this moment is and the real consequence and cost of Donald Trump,” Beto O’Rourke said on NBC's “Meet the Press“ on Sunday. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images 2020 elections Beto O’Rourke says El Paso shooting was a ‘consequence’ of Trump

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke said Sunday the mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso was a "consequence and cost" of President Donald Trump.

“It wasn't until that moment that I truly understood how critical this moment is and the real consequence and cost of Donald Trump,” O’Rourke said on NBC's “Meet the Press.“


“There is a concerted, organized attack against immigrants, against people of color, against those who do not look like or pray like or love like the majority in this country,” O’Rourke added, referencing the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Mississippi that ensnared nearly 700 undocumented migrant workers. “And this moment will define us one way or another. And if we do not wake up to it, I am convinced that we'll lose America, this country, in our sleep. And we cannot allow that to happen.“

Although the suspect in the El Paso shooting said he was not influenced by Trump, his writings reflect the president’s claims of an “invasion” of the United States.

O’Rourke echoed the call by many Democrats to ban assault weapons, including the semiautomatic version of an AK-47 used in the El Paso shooting. O’Rourke called it a “weapon of war … that no American should own, unless they are on a battlefield, engaged with the enemy.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled Beto O'Rourke's name.