President Trump has privately suggested that he would pardon officials who carry out orders connected to construction of a wall at the southern border that could be illegal, The Washington Post is reporting.
“Don’t worry, I’ll pardon you,” Trump has told officials when discussing the wall, according to the Post.
An unnamed former official told the Post that Trump has underscored that “people expected him to build a wall, and it had to be done by the election.”
{mosads}The White House did not return a request for comment Wednesday on the details as reported by the Post. One anonymous White House official reportedly told the newspaper that Trump was joking with the talk about pardons.
The new report underscores the urgency with which Trump is approaching the construction of the wall as his 2020 reelection campaign gets underway.
Trump’s pledge to build a 500-mile wall at the southern border with Mexico during his first term was one of his signature promises during the 2016 presidential campaign, inspiring chants at his rallies to this day.
“The wall is being built,” Trump said at a recent rally in Manchester, N.H., claiming the media was spreading falsities by suggesting the wall isn’t being built.
“We build a brand new, 30-foot steel and concrete wall and the fake media said, ‘he didn’t build the wall,’ ” Trump said at the rally on Aug. 15.
According to the Post, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed roughly 60 miles of barriers to replace current fencing at the southern border thus far into Trump’s first term, about one-tenth of the full length of the barrier the president has promised.
Meanwhile, court documents revealed Tuesday that the Pentagon had approved another 20 miles of 30-foot barriers for the wall along the southern border to be paid for with funds that had already been repurposed from other Defense Department accounts.