Donald Trump once again defends administration’s failure to build wall in places it didn’t exist at the border and raps Nancy Pelosi for calling it an ‘applause line’ at his campaign rallies
- Trump said the military was replacing ‘old & badly broken’ border wall
- Criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi for he is not building a wall
- Pelosi told CBS: ‘The President hasn’t built any new wall in the whole term of office’
- Acting head of Customs and Border Patrol Morgan said: ‘Right now the 78 miles that have been built have been built where there was an existing form of barrier.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday again defended his administration’s failure to construct border wall on new territory along the border, saying replacement projects for ‘badly broken’ infrastructure are worthwhile.
Trump also referenced diversions of funds appropriated for other purposes that the military is using for construction funds following his declaration of an emergency at the border.
‘When the Military rips down an old & badly broken Border Wall in an important location, & replaces it with a brand new 30 ft. high Steel & Concrete Wall, Nancy Pelosi says we are not building a Wall,’ Trump tweeted.
President Donald Trump defended the administration’s replacement of sections of wall on the southern border and rapped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for saying he hadn’t built any
‘Wrong, and it is going up fast. Brandon Judd just gave us great marks!’ Trump tagged Fox News, which earlier Tuesday aired a report featuring Judd, who serves as chief of the National Border Patrol Council.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CBS ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday: ‘The President hasn’t built any new wall in the whole term of office’ and called it an ‘applause line at a rally’ for the president.
Politifact rated her statement ‘mostly true,’ citing official statements by the head of the Border Patrol – although construction has now started on the first new wall on what would be an eight-mile section.
Judd said on Fox News, the president’s favorite network, that, ‘The border patrol, the experts that told the president where we needed the new wall and told him first and foremost we need to replace those walls that weren’t constructed very well in the first place.’
In this Sept. 10, 2019, file photo government contractors erect a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, in Yuma, Ariz.
In this Sept. 10, 2019, file photo, government contractors erect a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, in Yuma, Ariz. A federal appeals court hears arguments against diverting Pentagon money for border wall construction as time runs out. It says the Trump administration has moved quickly to spend the money after the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal to prevent work from starting in July
Trump said the replacement wall is 30 feet high and replaces ‘badly broken’ sections
Trump touted a Fox News appearance by Border Patrol union head Brandon Judd
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation’: ‘The President hasn’t built any new wall in the whole term of office’
‘That is what the president did and that is what shows you he is very serious about this issue.’ He said Trump ‘is not just building walls willy-nilly just to show the American public he is building walls. He is building them in places experts told him they need to be built.
Acting CBP chief Mark Morgan fielded questions about the wall from reporters at the White House briefing earlier this month, when he acknowledged no new wall had yet been built.
When asked about how many miles of border wall had been constructed where there had previously not been a wall, Morgan that ’78 miles of new wall has been built.’
Acting Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan acknowledged the Trump administration had constructed no new border wall there wasn’t already a barrier. He said 78 miles of wall has replaced existing barriers
A reporter then pressed him on how much wall has been constructed where there was previously ‘no wall whatsoever.’ Morgan provided his own definition of ‘new.’
‘My response to that is every mile of wall that’s being built is a new mile of wall,’ Morgan said.
However he then acknowledged that the wall he was describing was actually border wall that was constructed where there was already an inferior wall in place.
‘Right now the 78 miles that have been built have been built where there was an existing form of barrier. We just started breaking ground’ in the Rio Grande Valley sector, he said, ‘where we’re building miles of new wall where there has been no structure there at all. ‘
The new barrier, specially overseen by the president, is often substantially taller, consisting of steel bollards filled with concrete.
He said the administration was ‘breaking new ground’ in the Rio Grande Valley sector, and spoke about wall that he said would be constructed by next year.