Trump Considering Pentagon to Build the Wall: ‘Two Options, Military and Homeland Security’

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President Trump has been working hard to fulfill his campaign promises to the American people, and so far, he has delivered on virtually every item. The economy is booming, unemployment is down across the board, the tax plan is saving Americans money and businesses are hiring in record numbers.

The only thing left of great importance to both the President and his supporters is the wall, something that Trump has been fighting with Congress and heads of the GOP for funding. They all agree border security is important, but what Trump is discovering is that politics in Washington is about promises made, not promises kept.

Trump threatened to shut down the federal government unless Democrats in Congress support his immigration initiatives, including money for a wall on the border with Mexico.

“I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!” Trump tweeted. “Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!”

President Trump met with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week who talked him out of a government shutdown.

McConnell and Ryan advised Trump to postpone the fight over the border wall until after the November midterm elections, according to the report.

A day after the meeting, Trump said that the border wall could wait until after the November elections.

“Most likely I will not do that,” Trump said of a shutdown during an interview for “Fox & Friends” taped before his rally in Montana on Thursday night.

“I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt us or potentially hurt us because I have a feeling that the Republicans are going to do very well” in the midterm elections, Trump said.

“But we’re going to do it immediately after the election. I have the commitment from Mitch McConnell, from Paul Ryan, from everybody. We do it right after the election where hopefully, frankly, it’ll be easy because we’ll have more Republicans, not less,” he added.

Trump originally requested $5 billion for 2019 to construct his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He said Friday that the money will need to be redirected from the Pentagon or authorized by Congress.

While Trump agreed to wait until after the midterms for additional funding, he did not agree to stop progress on the wall’s construction.

As written and reported by David Martosko, Daily Mail:

Trump says he could use the MILITARY to build the wall if Congress won’t fund it through Homeland Security’s budget – and he won’t rule out another government shutdown to get his way.

President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s considering using military resources to finish construction of his long-promised border wall instead of relying on Congress to fund the project through the Homeland Security Department’s budget.

He also wouldn’t eliminate the possibility of a government shutdown if Democrats continue to confound his efforts to appropriate money for the project on the U.S.-Mexico border.

‘We have two options,’ he told DailyMail.com aboard Air Force One as he flew from Billings, Montana to Fargo, North Dakota. ‘We have military, we have homeland security.’

He was asked specifically about using the Army Corps of Engineers as a taxpayer-funded construction crew.

Trump said he would prefer to fund the ambitious construction ‘the old-fashioned way – get it from Congress – but I have other options if I have to.’

He’s seeking about $25 billion.

The possibility of diverting Pentagon funding and assets to build a border wall is a hole card the president is holding but has never directly acknowledged before.

Two Defense Department officials told DailyMail.com in August that the Army Corps of Engineers could take on the task.

‘They build levees that hold back massive walls of water,’ one said of the agency. ‘They can build one to hold back drugs and human traffickers.’

The White House appears headed for another confrontation with Congress over an increase in funding for the project after securing $1.6 billion for 2007 and the same amount for this year.

A Homeland Security border patrol vehicle monitors the border area where prototypes of US President Donald Trump's proposed border wall are standing in this November 2017 file photo

A Homeland Security border patrol vehicle monitors the border area where prototypes of Trump’s proposed border wall are standing (November 2017)

A senior White House official said Thursday that the money was ‘basically a down-payment on the thing’.

The possibility looms that the president will refuse to sign the next federal budget, due September 30, if lawmakers don’t go along with more installments. That would trigger a government shutdown.

Continue reading the full article here.

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