Graham: Trump won’t ‘capitulate’ on border, ‘no end in sight’ to shutdown

by Emily Birnbaum - 01/10/19 2:34 PM ET

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Thursday that President Trump won’t “capitulate” in his call for border wall funding, adding that there was “no end in sight” to the ongoing partial government shutdown.

“President Trump cannot and will not capitulate on his promise to secure the border,” Graham, who has been leading negotiations to resolve the ongoing partial government shutdown, wrote on Twitter. “That includes walls and physical barriers where appropriate.”

{mosads}”Shutdown continues. No end in sight,” he added. The shutdown, which entered its 20th day on Thursday, is the second-longest in U.S. history.

President Trump cannot and will not capitulate on his promise to secure the border. That includes walls and physical barriers where appropriate.

Shutdown continues, no end in sight.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 10, 2019

Graham in an earlier tweet chided Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), saying he is “disappointed” to hear that she “refuses” to negotiate with Trump on border funding.

The South Carolina Republican on Wednesday met with senior White House adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as five other GOP senators, in an attempt to negotiate a deal that could end the shutdown. He said a deal could involve an agreement in which “the president gets his security funding and can add some things to the mix that would draw some bipartisan support.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the attendees, on Thursday told The Washington Post that the chances for a bipartisan immigration deal to end the shutdown are not high.

Trump has been digging in on his demand for over $5 billion in border wall funding, while Democrats have offered $1.3 billion for border security measures — including reinforcement of existing walls and fences. Democratic leadership has opposed construction of any new physical barriers.

The president on Wednesday reportedly stormed out of a meeting at the White House to negotiate with Democratic leadership. On Thursday, Trump canceled his planned trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, citing Democrats’ “intransigence on Border Security.”

“I think the meeting was a set-up so he could walk out,” Pelosi said on Thursday.

The longest government shutdown to date lasted 21 days between 1995 and 1996.