Pres. Trump: Construction of Border Wall Will Begin in Months

ABC News



In his first one-on-one television interview since being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump told ABC News anchor David Muir that Mexico would be paying for the proposed border wall and that negotiations between the two nations would begin “relatively soon.”

“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.

During the interview, which took place at the White House this morning, Trump said that Mexico would pay the U.S. back “100 percent.”

He confirmed that U.S. taxpayer dollars would be used to start the construction but said reimbursement would follow.

“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.”

When asked about the start of construction, Trump said it would happen in “months.”

“As soon as we can, as soon as we can physically do it,” he said. “I would say in months, yeah. I would say in months — certainly planning is starting immediately.”

Catch more of the exclusive one-hour primetime special “President Trump: The First Interview” with David Muir tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ABC Columbia.

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President Donald Trump vowed this morning to launch “a major investigation” into alleged voter fraud, providing little detail.

“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and …” Trump tweeted today, adding in a second tweet, “even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”

Trump offered no further information on what such an investigation would entail.

“We will likely put out additional details in the next day,” White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee said this morning.

The president and members of his administration are repeating the unsubstantiated assertion that millions of people illegally cast votes in the 2016 presidential election — a claim Trump first made after the election without giving evidence.

After winning the Electoral College but not the popular vote, Trump asserted in late November that there was “serious” voter fraud in three states. He suggested on Twitter that he would have won the popular vote “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

But state officials said there was no evidence to that effect, and the authors of studies that a Trump spokesman cited as evidence disputed the characterization.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday afternoon that Trump “does believe that” millions of illegal ballots were cast in the presidential election, citing “studies and information” that were presented to him as the basis of that belief. Spicer said at the time “maybe we will” investigate the alleged fraud.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election-integrity nonprofit based in Indiana, swiftly voiced its support for Trump’s pledge to investigate alleged voter fraud, calling the move “important.”

“The Obama administration had the tools to fight voter fraud but let them gather dust. Because of that neglect of their duties, aliens got on the rolls, people voted multiple times, and lawlessness took hold of our elections,” said J. Christian Adams, the group’s president and general counsel.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, took to Twitter this morning to respond to Trump’s tweets, saying, “We conducted a review 4 years ago in Ohio & already have a statewide review of 2016 election underway. Easy to vote, hard to cheat.”

Speaking in 2013 about the state’s review, Husted reportedly said, “Voter fraud does exist, but it is not an epidemic.”

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin, Lauren Pearle and Ryan Struyk contributed to this report.

Categories: National News, News, Politics

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