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Donald Trump on Friday promised, “We haven’t declared the national emergency yet, but we’re building the wall."
Trump spoke to reporters from the White House Cabinet Room during a partially televised meeting on human trafficking on the southern border attended by Ivanka Trump and Kellyanne Conway, among others. He was keen on plugging his State of the Union speech next week, suggesting he would make some big announcement. “I’m saying, listen closely to the SOTU, I think you'll find it very exciting,” he said.
Trump also repeatedly teased the idea of declaring a national emergency, saying, “We have very, very strong legal standing,” according to the White House pool report.
He also pointedly lamented Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s stance on the border wall being “immoral,” saying, “Honestly, I don’t think Nancy has a clue.” That’s pretty rich coming from someone who has melted into a puddle every time he’s faced off with Pelosi. #Midterms #SOTU #Shutdown
Trump also spewed a bunch of outright lies or half-truths that have either already been disproven or almost surely will be within a couple of hours from now.
- Trump: “So we’re building the wall. … The chant now should be ‘Finish the Wall!’ because we’re building a lot of wall. And I started this six months ago ...” No, they aren’t building new sections of wall.
- Trump repeated his claim that San Diego was “begging” him to build the wall. Even the GOP mayor of San Diego opposes such a wall.
- Trump: "Many Democrats are dying to say they want the wall but they just can't say it." Democrats are almost universally opposed to the wall.
Tune in later for more fact checks and Democratic responses to the latest episode of The World According to Trump.