Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Saturday President Trump is willing to compromise on the type of barrier built along the border with Mexico.
Mulvaney told NBC in a segment of “Meet The Press” scheduled to air Sunday that Trump would accept a metal fence instead of a concrete wall in order to end the government shutdown.
“What’s driving this is the president’s desire to change the conditions at the border. And if he has to give up a concrete wall, replace it with a steel fence in order to do that so that Democrats can say, ‘See? He’s not building a wall anymore,’ that should help us move in the right direction,” Mulvaney said.
“The president is going to secure the border with a barrier,” he explained.
Mulvaney’s comments came after congressional staffers met with him, Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials. Trump said “not much headway” was made at the meeting.
Later on Saturday, Trump tweeted an image of a border barrier made up of steel slats.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2019
The partial shutdown of the federal government is now in its 15th day with 800,000 employees furloughed or working without pay. Many federal contractors are also affected.
Trump has refused to sign legislation funding the government unless it includes $5 billion for a border barrier. Democrats controlling the House have agreed to fund only $1.3 billion for border security.
