Trump has reportedly told his aides to take new measures to build his long-promised border wall before the 2020 election — and has assured that he will issue pardons if they have to break laws to get it done.
The president has asserted as recently as this month that the wall "is under major construction." But of the nearly 2,000-mile border, only about 60 miles of barrier have been built, and all as a "replacement" for aging structures that had already been built, the Post reported.
Trump has held regular meetings to try to speed up the project, and has waved off worries about possible legal violations, suggesting he would pardon officials who pushed forward regardless, according to the Post. "Don't worry, I'll pardon you," he reportedly said in response to legal concerns about the use of eminent domain and contracting procedures.that Trump told Customs and Border Protection chief Kevin McAleenan that he would be pardoned if he were found to have broken immigration laws. McAleenan is scheduled to travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to discuss immigration issues, according to a Homeland Security Department press release.
The White House declined CNBC's request for comment on the Post's report. But deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley, in a statement to the newspaper, said Trump "promised to secure our border with sane, rational immigration policies to make American communities safer, and that's happening everywhere the wall is being built."
The reported criticisms, Gidley said, are "just more fabrications by people who hate the fact the status quo, that has crippled this country for decades, is finally changing as President Trump is moving quicker than anyone in history to build the wall, secure the border and enact the very immigration policies the American people voted for."
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