Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shot down any idea Thursday that Mexico will be paying for President Trump’s border wall, as Trump promised over and over on the campaign trail.
When asked at a Politico Playbook breakfast Thursday morning if the Mexican government will be footing the bill for Trump’s planned border wall, McConnell brushed that idea aside.
“Uh, no,” McConnell said.
The comment comes more than a week after Trump pledged during his address before a joint session of Congress that the U.S. would build a “great, great border wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border, although he declined to say that Mexico would pay for the wall as he had on the campaign trail.
McConnell also said that while he supports border security measures, a wall is likely not the best option to protect parts of the southern border. However, he added that he trusts Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and plans to “take his advice.”
“I’m in favor of border security,” McConnell said. “There are some places along the border where that’s probably not the best way to secure the border. But I think General [John] Kelly knows what he’s doing. I think the president picked an outstanding person to be in charge of homeland security and my suspicion is that we will take his advice.”
