President Trump pushes back on wall, Syria withdrawal

President Donald Trump on Dec. 21 in the Oval Office. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump prepared to welcome the new year Monday by doubling down on old campaign promises.
In a series of New Year’s Eve tweets, Trump pushed back on reports that he has abandoned the concept of a concrete border wall, and affirmed that the United States was “slowly sending our troops back home” from Syria, despite pleas from fellow Republicans, military advisers and international allies to reconsider the withdrawal.
Trump, in the first of a burst of tweets said: “An all concrete Wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media. Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see through (thereby making it possible to see what is happening on both sides). Makes sense to me!”
Trump’s tweet came a day after outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly said "to be honest, it's not a wall,” in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, and as parts of the federal government remained shut down over an impasse on border wall funding.
"The president still says 'wall' — oftentimes frankly he'll say 'barrier' or 'fencing,' now he's tended toward steel slats. But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration, when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it,” Kelly said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), after a White House lunch meeting with Trump on Sunday, described the wall as a “metaphor” for border security, while White House counsel Kellyanne Conway when asked to define the wall on Fox News said, “there may be a wall in some places. There may be steel slats. There may be technological enhancements.”
House Democrats, who will gain control of the chamber when Congress reconvenes on Thursday, have said they will not support any spending bill that provides money for the border wall. Instead, they have offered $1.3 billion for border fencing and other security measures, a figure below the $5 billion Trump has sought for the construction of wall along the U.S. and Mexico border.
On Monday, congressional Democrats said they will sponsor legislation Thursday to reopen the government through a series of separate spending bills that would fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8 and various other agencies until Sept. 30.
“The President is using the government shutdown to try to force an expensive and ineffective wall upon the American people, but Democrats have offered two bills which separate the arguments over the wall from the government shutdown.," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a joint statement. "The first bill would reopen all government agencies except for the Department of Homeland Security — not taking a position on the President’s wall. It would simply continue the funding levels and language that both parties have already supported. The second bill would extend the Department of Homeland Security’s funding through February 8th, which Republicans already supported in recent weeks."
It remains unclear if the Republican-controlled Senate would agree to the House plan. Conway indicated on Sunday that Trump would likely veto any bill that does not meet his demands for border wall funding.
“I campaigned on Border Security, which you cannot have without a strong and powerful Wall,” Trump tweeted on Monday.
The president also defended his decision to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria tweeting that he “campaigned on getting out of Syria and other places” and was “just doing what I said I was going to do!”
“If anybody but Donald Trump did what I did in Syria, which was an ISIS loaded mess when I became President, they would be a national hero, “ Trump tweeted. “ISIS is mostly gone, we’re slowly sending our troops back home to be with their families, while at the same time fighting ISIS remnants.”
Graham and other lawmakers and military advisers have attempted to persuade Trump to reconsider his decision, arguing that a complete withdrawal will increase the likelihood of a resurgence of Islamic State fighters and could also cede influence of the region to Iran and Russia.
On Sunday, Graham told reporters after meeting with Trump that it appeared the president would slow down the withdrawal of troops. The White House and the Pentagon have not offered a timeline for the removal of American forces since Trump announced the withdrawal on Dec. 19.
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