Dems slam Trump over ’empty promises’ on border wall

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Tuesday slammed President Trump over his “empty promises” on a border wall as Trump headed to Arizona.

The DNC pointed to an immigration speech in Phoenix one year ago, when Trump said, “On day one we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall.”

{mosads}”REALITY: Construction on Trump’s border wall had not begun as of August 2017, and it had not even received funding yet,” responded the DNC.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One last month, however, that the Department of Homeland Security was already modifying existing fencing and most of the necessary barrier is already built.

“So in a true sense, we’ve already started the wall,” he said.

The DNC on Tuesday also criticized Trump for his claim on the campaign trail that Mexico would be forced to pay for the wall, something Mexican leaders have consistently rejected.

It said Trump “backed down from his promise” and “pushed the burden onto American taxpayers.”

Border wall funding is also certain to dominate the 2018 budget debate, particularly as Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has thrown his weight behind the proposal. 

Trump’s 2018 budget request included $1.6 billion for wall construction, and House appropriators pushed through the full amount untouched. But the measure is certain to meet greater resistance in the Senate.

Still, there’s been no word on either negotiating with or compelling Mexico to pay for the wall, and Mexico’s government has said it is not willing to even discuss the issue.

The DNC also criticized a leaked conversation between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, during which Trump called the wall “the least important thing.”

In that call, Trump told Peña Nieto the wall’s importance was purely political, but warned that it could be a breaking point for direct relations between the two presidents.

“If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that,” Trump told Peña Nieto shortly after his inauguration.

After that call, a planned Peña Nieto trip to Washington was canceled, but the public debate over payment of the wall largely receded from the public sphere.

Trump on Tuesday visited Yuma, Ariz., a border city that’s almost entirely fenced off from Mexico, to speak with Border Patrol agents before going to Phoenix for a campaign-style rally, where he’s expected to address immigration and his proposed border wall.