President Trump will meet with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other department officials at 2 p.m. Monday at the White House.
The Christmas Eve meeting, announced by press secretary Sarah Sanders, comes amid a showdown over money the president is demanding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
“The Wall is different than the 25 Billion Dollars in Border Security. The complete Wall will be built with the Shutdown money plus funds already in hand. The reporting has been inaccurate on the point. The problem is, without the Wall, much of the rest of Dollars are wasted!” Trump tweeted Monday afternoon.
The Wall is different than the 25 Billion Dollars in Border Security. The complete Wall will be built with the Shutdown money plus funds already in hand. The reporting has been inaccurate on the point. The problem is, without the Wall, much of the rest of Dollars are wasted!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2018
Monday marked day 3 of the partial government shutdown, and the White House and Congress remain at a standstill over Trump’s demand for $5 billion for a southern border wall.
Earlier Monday, Trump tweeted about the border wall, saying: “Virtually every Democrat we are dealing with today strongly supported a Border Wall or Fence. It was only when I made it an important part of my campaign, because people and drugs were pouring into our Country unchecked, that they turned against it. Desperately needed!”
Virtually every Democrat we are dealing with today strongly supported a Border Wall or Fence. It was only when I made it an important part of my campaign, because people and drugs were pouring into our Country unchecked, that they turned against it. Desperately needed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2018
The meeting aside, Trump has a relatively light public schedule Monday.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, who is the incoming acting White House chief of staff, said Sunday in an interview on ABC that the Trump administration made a new offer to Democrats for a funding bill that would include roughly $1.3 billion for border security — something they already support.
But because the Senate does not convene in full again until Thursday, and Mulvaney said the shutdown could continue into the new Congress next month.
“The ball right now is in their corner,” Mulvaney said of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats.
“If Director Mulvaney says the Trump Shutdown will last into the New Year, believe him – because it’s their shutdown,” a spokesman for Schumer said in response.
There are roughly 400,000 federal employees that are still required to work without pay, and another 320,000 are furloughed and at home without pay.
