President Trump’s threat to shut the government down over border security funding does not mean he is ditching his promise to force Mexico to pay for his wall, the White House said Thursday.
“I certainly don’t think any efforts have been abandoned,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters amid repeated requests about the president’s recent threat of a government shutdown next month.
The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about the status of border wall negotiations with Mexico, whose government has adamantly opposed the president’s rhetoric on immigration and his vow to construct a massive barrier along the Southern border.
At an off-script rally Tuesday night, Trump said he favored sending Washington into shutdown mode if Congress fails to secure funding for the border wall. The Senate will take up a House-passed spending bill when members return in September that includes $1.6 billion in funding for the wall.
“The president has talked pretty extensively about this,” Sanders said Thursday. “He campaigned on the wall. He won on talking about building the wall, and he’s going to make sure that gets done.”
She continued, “Let’s not forget that there were a lot of Democrat senators that also voted for border security and a border fence, and hopefully some of those same individuals will talk to members in their current party and maybe we can get a bipartisan group to support that and make sure it happens because this president is going to see it through.”
