White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodged her way through pointed questions about whether President Trump would carry out his threat to shut down the government to get funding for a southern border wall.
Sanders, in her first on-camera briefing since Trump’s working vacation and off-script rally Tuesday night, said Trump would continue to fight for funds, without repeating the president’s shutdown phrase.
‘The president has talked pretty extensively about this,’ Sanders told White House reporters Thursday.
‘He campaigned on the wall. He won on talking about building a wall. And he’s going to make sure that gets done, and he’ll continue to fight for that funding and ensure that it takes place,’ she said.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodged questions about whether President Trump would carry out his threat to shut down the government to get funding for a southern border wall Thursday
Trump threatened on Tuesday night: ‘Believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.’ The Republican House has passed funding to begin construction on a physical wall, but getting it through the Senate would be a challenge.
Sanders declined to repeat the threat. ‘The president’s committed to making sure this gets done. We know that the wall and other security measures at the border work,’ she said.
‘We’ve seen that take place over the last decade, and we’re committed to making sure that the American people are protected. And we’re going to continue to push forward and make sure that the wall gets built,’ she added.
Pressed on the threat of a shutdown, she said:’Look, I think the president has been clear that this is a priority. Protecting American citizens is a priority. That’s something he’s committed to and we’re going to, as I’ve said multiple times today, he’s committed to seeing that through.’
President Donald Trump threatened a government shutdown over the wall at a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodged questions about whether President Trump would carry out his threat to shut down the government to get funding for a southern border wall Thursday
Asked specifically if he was willing to force a shutdown, she said: ‘I think I’ve answered this question several times.’
Congressional Republicans have a history of coming out on the wrong end of government shutdowns when they tried to gain leverage with Democratic presidents, with polls showing damage to the GOP after a shutdown under President Barack Obama.
ABC’s Jonathan Karl pressed Sanders on Trump’s repeated claims during the campaign that he would make Mexico pay for the wall. The line became such a staple that Trump would regularly ask his campaign rally crowds: ”Who’s going to pay for it?’ To which crowds would yell in unison: ‘Mexico!
‘He’s not saying that Mexico is going to pay for it,’ said Karl. ‘He hasn’t said they’re not either,’ replied Sanders.
The Mexican government has said emphatically that it is not paying for the wall.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pauses while speaking to reporters at the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017
In this June 8, 2016, file photo, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, left, hugs Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, in Mexico City
According to a leaked transcript of a conversation between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Trump pleaded with his counterpart to work out some kind of a deal and stop saying Mexico won’t pay for the wall.
‘The only thing I will ask you though is on the wall, you and I both have a political problem. My people stand up and say, “Mexico will pay for the wall” and your people probably say something in a similar but slightly different language,’ Trump said, according to the Post transcript.
‘But the fact is we are both in a little bit of a political bind because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall – I have to,’ Trump said.
President Donald Trump (seen above at a campaign rally in Phoenix on Tuesday) threatened Tuesday night that he might shut down the federal government unless Congress provides funding for his promised border wall between the U.S. and Mexico
Pena Nieto responded: ‘I have recognized the right of any government to protect its borders as it deems necessary and convenient. But my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.’
Trump responded: ‘But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that.’
Trump’s own comments about the wall were far more direct than his spokeswoman’s during his Tuesday night rally where he issued his shutdown threat.
‘Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it,’ the president said in Phoenix, Arizona.
‘Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it,’ the president said during a rally speech in Phoenix, Arizona. ‘But believe me: If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall’
President Donald Trump (seen above at a campaign rally in Phoenix on Tuesday) threatened Tuesday night that he might shut down the federal government unless Congress provides funding for his promised border wall between the U.S. and Mexico
‘But believe me: If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.’
Trump also accused congressional Democrats of putting American security at risk for not supporting the proposal, which was one of his marquee campaign pledges, and which many of them oppose – as does a majority of the public.
‘We are building a wall on the southern border, which is absolutely necessary,’ he said.
‘Let me be very clear to Democrats in Congress who oppose a border wall and stand in the way of border security,’ Trump continued: ‘You are putting all of Americans’ safety at risk.’