“Many of those workers have said to me — communicated — stay out until you get the funding for the wall,” Trump said. “These federal workers want the wall.”
Trump described immigrants as criminals and human traffickers, and he espoused plans for his wall. But he declined to answer questions that invited him to be more specific, especially on a contract he said was signed Monday to begin construction on a lengthy section of the barrier.
Later Tuesday, the White House had no comment about a Border Patrol announcement that an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy had died in custody early on Christmas morning, raising new questions about the administration’s zero-tolerance policies on detained migrants.
When asked about the living circumstances of the boy who died in custody, a White House spokesman called the death very sad, but officials declined further comment. When reached for comment about the situation, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman pointed to a public release on its website.
Trump, in the Oval Office session, offered no indication of when he thought the partial government shutdown might end.
The president has remained at odds with congressional leaders since funding for nine departments and numerous federal agencies lapsed at midnight Friday. Since then, both Republicans and Democrats have been unwilling to budge from their strongly held positions on border security and wall funding. Lawmakers are becoming resigned to the prospect of the government remaining closed until the new year, when the majority shifts to Democrats in the House.
Trump, who delayed any departure plans for a 16-day vacation to his Florida estate, remained in Washington, where he spoke to reporters and offered contradicting assertions about the fate of his signature campaign promise.
“I can tell you it’s not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they’d like to call it,” Trump told reporters, a nod to the “artistic slats” he has started advocating instead of the concrete wall he once promised. “I’ll call it whatever they want. But it’s all the same thing. It’s a barrier from people pouring into our country.”
Trump said “there may be the case of an Olympic champion who can get over the wall, but for the most part you are not able to do it.” He said the wall would be as high as 30 feet, roughly the equivalent of a three-story building.
In the same discussion with reporters, Trump both insisted, without evidence, that the wall was being built and could be “either renovated or brand-new by Election Day,” and reiterated his demand that Congress allocate billions of dollars for it. Trump again said he was pushing ahead with a stretch of wall construction in Texas, claiming he had signed a contract to build a large portion at a “great price,” but he declined to give additional details.
“Yesterday I gave out 115 miles worth of wall — 115 miles in Texas,” the president said. “And it’s going to be built hopefully rapidly. I’m going there at the end of January for the start of construction.”
Describing that section of the wall as “a big stretch,” Trump added that “we gave it out at a great price. So we’re going to have great wall there, and we have other sections to give out.”
Asked who had received the contract, Trump did not offer any specifics. “Different people, different people,” he responded. “Highly bid.”
Officials with the White House and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on specifics about the contract.
No legislative action to resolve the shutdown is expected before Thursday, when the Senate and the House reconvene. Members of Congress have noted the increased possibility that the impasse will last at least until Jan. 3, when Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is expected to reclaim the speakership.
Without a majority in both chambers, lawmakers said, Trump will quite likely realize how much more difficult it will be to enforce his agenda.
On Christmas Day, the president also veered into an unprompted attack on James Comey, the former FBI director he fired more than a year ago.
In the Oval Office, Trump complained over the outrage, particularly from Democrats, that still percolates over his decision to oust Comey, adding that “it’s a disgrace what’s happening in this country.”
“But, other than that,” Trump concluded, “I wish everybody a Merry Christmas.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.