President Donald Trump dug in on his demand for a border wall over the Christmas holiday as the government shutdown has now entered its fifth day.
Trump spoke to reporters on Christmas day after calling troops, saying Congress must give him additional money to fund the border wall he campaigned on or the shutdown will continue.
“I can’t tell you when the government is going to be open,” he said. “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. I’ll call it whatever they want.”
Trump also said that many of the thousands of government workers who are furloughed without pay during the shutdown have urged him to stand strong on his demand, though he didn’t mention any by name.
“Many of those workers have said to me, communicated, stay out until you get the funding for the wall. These federal workers want the wall,” he said.
Trump’s comments suggest the shutdown is unlikely to end any time soon after Congress returns from Christmas break.
In fact, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the president “must abandon the wall, plain and simple” so members of Congress can get back to work.
Per The Hill:
Trump on Tuesday blasted Democrats as hypocrites, saying their opposition to a border wall is like their criticism of his decision to fire James Comey after they hammered the FBI director over his handling of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s email.
“Everybody hated Comey. They thought he did a horrible job. The Democrats hated him, they were calling for his resignation, they were calling for his resignation … until I fired him,” Trump said.
“It’s a disgrace what’s happening in our country. But other than that, I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas,” he concluded.