Trump Disputes Own Chief of Staff on the Wall

'The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 18, 2018 7:21 AM CST
Trump Disputes Own Chief of Staff on the Wall
In this July 31, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump talks with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

President Trump is pushing back against his own chief of staff over the border wall with Mexico. Trump tweeted Thursday morning that "the Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it." Some Democrats who met with Trump aide John Kelly on Wednesday said Kelly told them there are parts of the border where a wall isn't needed and that Trump didn't know that when making campaign promises, reports the AP.

Trump's tweet continued to say some of the wall will be "see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water." In a second tweet, he wrote that the wall "will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico, which has a ridiculous $71 billion dollar trade surplus with the US The $20 billion dollar Wall is 'peanuts' compared to what Mexico makes from the US. NAFTA is a bad joke!" A third tweet declared, "We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world."

(More President Trump stories.)

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