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Trump uses Easter Egg Roll event to boast to children about US military then says ‘no one disobeys my orders’

'We are completely rebuilding our military, it was very depleted as you know,' US president says

Tom Embury-Dennis
Tuesday 23 April 2019 04:26 EDT
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'We are completely rebuilding our military' Trump boasts about military at Easter Egg event

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At an annual White House Easter event, Donald Trump boasted to children about the size of the US military, falsely claimed a US-Mexico border wall was under construction, and insisted "nobody disobeys my orders".

“We are completely rebuilding our military, it was very depleted as you know, a lot of the military folks can tell you and it is being rebuilt to a level that we have never seen before,” Mr Trump said on Monday from a balcony while stood in front of his wife Melania and a giant bespectacled bunny.

“All with great product, the best product in the world and you know where it’s made? In the USA, that’s where it’s made. It’s all made right here, so again, Happy Easter.”

After his speech, which also included comments extolling his contribution to the economy and policies cutting regulations, Mr Trump joined thousands of children on the South Lawn to kick off the Easter Egg Roll, a tradition dating back 141 years.

There, one of the children urged Mr Trump to “build that wall”, to which the president responded, “I will, oh it’s happening, it’s being built now".

In fact, Congress has refused to authorise funds for the project, and so far no concrete wall has been built across the border. To date, the Trump administration has only repaired and replaced old fencing.

The event came amid renewed talk in Washington of Mr Trump’s impeachment, following evidence in the Mueller report that indicated he repeatedly attempted to obstruct justice.

Asked by a reporter at the Egg Roll if he feared impeachment, he said: “Not even a little bit." It came after the president wrongly claimed on Twitter that he could not be impeached because, he said, it was Democrats who committed unspecified crimes.

As children nearby hunted for eggs, Mr Trump was also asked if he worried his White House staff did not follow orders. It followed revelations by the special counsel the president had failed multiple times to obstruct the investigation only because members of his team refused to carry out his requests.

“Nobody disobeys my orders,” Mr Trump said, despite Robert Mueller’s report and extensive news reports suggesting multiple people had.

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