President Trump said hours before his Oval Office address Tuesday night that he didn’t think it would change anyone’s mind.
“It’s not going to change a damn thing, but I’m still doing it,” Trump said Tuesday, according to the New York Times.
Trump used his first Oval Office address to the nation to argue that the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is a humanitarian crisis that demands a border wall. But he was instantly rebutted by congressional Democratic leaders, and the two sides are no closer to a solution Wednesday morning.
Trump is headed to Capitol Hill Wednesday to have lunch with Senate Republicans, and will later meet with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders to continue negotiations for a funding bill that he hopes can include money to build a border wall.
The president says he will not sign a bill that does not include funding for the border wall, and has said law enforcement officers believe $5.7 billion is necessary for the physical barrier.
Democratic leaders have said that they would not grant the money Trump demands for the wall, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has called it “immoral.”
One option still open to Trump is declaring a national emergency at the border to loosen up federal funding to build a wall. Even though Trump did not declare an emergency during his prime-time speech Tuesday night, a source close to the president told Axios in a report published Wednesday that a national emergency declaration is still the most likely option.
