President Trump vowed to begin construction on the wall between the U.S. and Mexico in a matter of months, doubling down on his pledge to make Mexico pay for the project.
“There will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form,” Trump told ABC News on Wednesday in his first televised interview since taking the oath of office last week.
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“Ultimately, it’ll come out of what’s happening with Mexico,” Trump said of funding for the wall. “We’re going to be starting those negotiations relatively soon.”
The president acknowledged that U.S. taxpayers would initially foot the bill for construction, but noted that Mexico would pay Americans back for the wall.
“All it is is, we’ll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico,” Trump said.
He promised to begin construction on the massive project “as soon as we can physically do it.”
“I would say in months,” Trump said of when building might begin. “Certainly, planning is starting immediately.”
