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Dec. 31, 2018 / 1:42 PM GMT
By Dartunorro Clark
President Donald Trump on Monday defended his long-promised border wall a day after outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly said plans for a solid concrete structure were ditched early on in the administration.
“An all concrete Wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media,” Trump tweeted. “Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see through (thereby making it possible to see what is happening on both sides). Makes sense to me!”
Kelly, who will depart the administration on Wednesday, told The Los Angeles Times in an extensive interview published on Sunday that Trump’s pledge to build a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico is not referring to an actual wall.
“The president still says ‘wall’ — oftentimes frankly he’ll say ‘barrier’ or ‘fencing,’ now he’s tended toward steel slats,” Kelly said. “But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it.”
Trump’s tweet comes amid a partial government shutdown that began Dec. 22 over his demand that Congress fund a $5 billion wall. He threatened to “close” the border if the money was not approved.
Congressional Democrats, who take control of the House of Representatives after returning to Washington on Jan. 3, have shown little interest in funding what incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff called an “immoral, ineffective and expensive wall — the wall that he specifically promised that Mexico would pay for.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who met privately with the president on Sunday, said Trump was in a “very good mood” and is open-minded about a compromise if it “achieves his goals of securing our border.”
Graham also reiterated Kelly’s comment that the wall is not a concrete wall.
“The wall has become a metaphor for border security. And what we’re talking about is a physical barrier where it makes sense. In the past every Democrat has voted for these physical barriers,” Graham said.
