President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that his campaign promise to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico will come to fruition "soon."
Trump's comments came after a press conference during which he signed an executive order intended to provide aid to farmers and ranchers. Trump appeared with newly confirmed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, as well as a roundtable of farmers and ranchers. During the signing, the president emphasized creating fairer trade policies for American farmers.
During a brief period of questions, an unidentified reporter asked Trump whether he would be willing to sign a budget deal without funding for a border wall.
"The wall's going to get built, folks," Trump replied. "In case anyone has any questions, the wall's going to get built, and it's going to stop drugs and a lot of people from coming in that shouldn't be here. And it's going to have a huge effect on human trafficking, which is a tremendous problem in this world."
Trump emphasized that Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly supports the wall.
"I will say Secretary Kelly, formerly General Kelly, is doing an incredible job. And I was just with him a little while ago, and he said we definitely, desperately need the wall. And we're going to have the wall built," the president said.
One reporter asked Trump when the wall will be built.
"Soon," Trump responded. "We're already preparing. We're doing plans. We're doing specifications. We're doing a lot of work on the wall. And the wall gets built."
The question came after a week of uncertainty over whether the administration would insist on funding for the controversial wall in the 2017 federal budget. The issue has taken on special urgency this week, because if no budget is passed before the end of Friday, the federal government will be forced to shut down. On Monday, Trump seemed to intimate that a wall does not need to be in the budget. The following day, however, White House officials said that keeping the wall in the fiscal year 2017 budget remains a priority.
In a tweet, Trump insisted that the "fake news media" is misrepresenting his position, reiterating his vow to build the border wall.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/856849388026687492