President Trump says construction of U.S.-Mexico border wall to begin in "months"
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall will begin “in months.”
“As soon as we can, as soon as we can physically do it,” he told ABC News in an interview. “I would say in months, yeah. I would say in months -- certainly planning is starting immediately.”
In the interview, which will air in its entirety Wednesday night, Mr. Trump reiterated what he said during a pre-inauguration press conference -- which is that rather than paying for it up front, Mexico will “reimburse” the U.S. for the wall in some form. In the meantime, U.S. taxpayer dollars will be put toward construction of the wall.
“All it is, is we’ll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico,” he said. “I’m just telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form. What I’m doing is good for the United States. It’s also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico.”
The wall was a centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s campaign, and part of his hard-line pitch on immigration. He reiterated Wednesday that Mexico -- which has repeatedly said it will not pay for the wall -- will pay for it “100 percent.”
The interview clip comes as Mr. Trump is expected to begin signing immigration-related executive orders, including possibly one relating to the border wall.
“Ultimately, it will come out of what’s happening with Mexico ... and we will be in a form reimbursed by Mexico, which I’ve always said,” Trump said.
