Trump interview: President says border situation is 'national emergency' as he edges closer to declaration
President takes trip to Texas on 20th day of government shutdown
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has doubled down on his threat to declare a national emergency to free up federal funds to build a wall on a visit to Texas as part of an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity.
When asked how soon it would be before he declare an emergency, the president said "if we don't make a deal with Congress most likely I will do that". Despite the fact any such move would bring legal challenges, Mr Trump said the law is "100 per cent on my side".
He went on to call the situation at the border "a national emergency, if you look what's happening."
Mr Trump did not lay out a specific timetable for when he might take the step of a declaration, saying: “I think we're going to see what happens over the next few days.”
Critics have accused Mr Trump of "manufacturing" a border crisis to try and get the wall as part of a deal to end a partial government shutdown.
Two days after delivering a televised address to the nation to make his case for a wall, and a day after he abruptly left a meeting with Democrats after they refused to pay for one, Mr Trump travelled to the city of McAllen where he signed autographs for supporters and met border agency officials.
As he left the White House for his visit to Texas, Mr Trump again denied throwing a “temper tantrum” during the encounter with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi a day earlier.
At a roundtable meeting with community leaders and officials in McAllen, among them Texas senator Ted Cruz, the president repeated his insistence that a wall would be be built.
“We’re going to build a powerful steel barrier. They said we don’t want a concrete wall. I said that’s okay, we’ll call it a steel barrier,” he said.
“They say this is a manufactured crisis. That’s their new sound bite ... Every network has ‘manufactured crisis’. But it’s not. What’s manufactured is the word ‘manufactured’.”
The president - who has cancelled an upcoming trip to Davos, Switzerland, because of the shutdown - also sought to address those critics who have pointed out he used to repeatedly promise Mexico would pay for any barrier. He claimed without evidence that the terms of a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada will provide the money for the wall.
“When I say Mexico’s going to pay for the wall ... I didn’t say they’re going to write me a check for $10bn or $20bn,” he said. “If Congress approves this trade bill, they’ll pay for the wall many times over. When I say Mexico’s going to lpay for the wall, that’s what I mean”.
To see how events unfolded throughout the day, see our liveblog below
Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load
Ahead of the an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Mr Trump has mocking CNN reporter Jim Acosta for a video report from the same border location, McAllen, where the president visited today.
Sean Hannity's programme has started, and he is hitting out at the Democrats use of the term "manufactured crisis" when discussing the border.
However, statistics do back up at the majority of illegal immigrants do not enter the country via the southern border.
The interview may not be full of the hardest questions, it is only two months since Mr Hannity joined Mr Trump on stage at a rally and praised his administration.
Critics have claimed that the shutdown is show by Mr Trump to play to supporters - with Fox News an outlet that a number of his supporters are likely to watch.
Mr Hannity is now talking about the under of crimes committed by illegal immigrants and the amount of drugs coming across the border.
It is straight out of the Trump playbook.
He repeats one statistic about 20,000 children being smuggled across the border last month - that is misleading. That number represents family units crossing the border which include children with at least one adult. They are not all trafficked.
As Mr Hannity continues his opening monologue ahead of the interview - criticising CNN as "fake news" just like the president - here is something from the pool report of reporters travelling with Mr Trump earlier today.
Here comes the first part of the interview with Mr Trump:
He calls the workers at the border "incredible" and repeats his call for a barrier on the border.
He claims people have "easy access into the United States".
He claims that the shutdown is a "political issue" and that Democrats are only letting it happen as they are worried about the 2020 presidential election.
Mr Hannity is now asking him about the use of the word "manufactured" by other news outlets.
Mr Trump calls it "sad" - after saying he had watched Mr Hannity's show on Wednesday night.
Mr Trump just claimed "everyone wants him to win this fight".
He is referring to the shutdown, that is wrong. Recent polling says more than 30 per cent of voters blame Mr Trump for the closure.
"If we don't make a deal with Congress" Mr Trump says, I "would declare an emergency"
"What works is a wheel and a wall... they are old but effective". That is a quote Mr Trump has used a number of times in the last few days.
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