Trump: Odds of border wall deal ‘less than 50-50’

“I personally think it’s less than 50-50, but you have a lot of very good people on that board,” said President Donald Trump. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump said Sunday that there is a “less than 50-50” percent chance that congressional negotiators charged with solving the partisan impasse over his demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border will reach a compromise.

“I personally think it’s less than 50-50, but you have a lot of very good people on that board,” the president said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Trump on Friday evening signed a bill to fund the government until Feb. 15, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history on its 35th day. The measure did not allocate taxpayer dollars to his campaign trail promise of a border wall, but Trump has pledged to secure that money in upcoming talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over the next three weeks.

Trump tweeted on Saturday that deliberations with Democratic lawmakers over border security measures “will start immediately,” but warned that it “will not be easy” to broker a deal, as “both parties [are] very dug in.”

He continued tweeting on the subject Sunday, including this all-caps pronouncement: “BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!“

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney vowed on Sunday that Trump would secure wall funding one way or another, confirming that the White House is revisiting the idea of declaring a national emergency to finance construction.

“The president’s commitment is to protect the nation, and he’ll do it either with or without Congress,” Mulvaney said.

 

Source:Politico.com