President Trump on Friday defended his decision to use military funding to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border by saying some generals support it, and the amount he is taking is small relative to the size of the Defense Department’s budget.
Trump spoke in the White House to announce he would use $2.5 billion from the department’s drug interdiction program, and $3.5 billion from a military construction fund. That decision is expected to draw complaints from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, but he said some generals support his move.
[Trump targets already-approved $8 billion to build 234 miles of steel border wall]
“We have certain funds being used at the discretion of generals, at the discretion of the military,” Trump said. “Some of them haven’t been allocated yet, and some of the generals think this is more important. I was speaking to a couple of them — they think this is far more important than what they were going to use it for. I said, ‘What were you going to use it for?’ I won’t go into details, but it didn’t sound too important to me.”
“I’ve gotten $700 billion for the military in year one. And then last year $716 billion,” Trump added. “When I need $2 billion — $3 billion out of that for a wall, which is a very important instrument … But when you have that kind of money going into the military this is a very, very small amount that we’re asking for.”
Trump is expected to face opposition in Congress, where a majority in the House and Senate could support a resolution that seeks to invalidate Trump’s decision.
