Trump reportedly promised pardons to aides who break the law to build border wall by 2020 election – CNBC

Those funds would have only built about 234 miles of wall, according to a Jan. 6 letter from the Office of Management and Budget — far less than Trump has said he wants to build.

At that time, Trump claimed the wall would be finished in two years. But experts have said that the project could take more than a decade to complete, and could cost tens of billions of dollars.

The president has asserted as recently as this month that the wall “is under major construction.” But of the nearly 2,000-mile border, only about 60 miles of barrier have been built, and all as a “replacement” for aging structures that had already been built, the Post reported.

In a July tweet, Trump said it was “Fake News” to suggest no “new” wall had been built.

“When an old Wall at the Southern Border, that is crumbling and falling over, built in an important section to keep out problems, is replaced with a brand new 30 foot high steel and concrete Wall, the Media says no new Wall has been built,” he complained. “Building lots of Wall!”

Trump has held regular meetings to try to speed up the project, and has waved off worries about possible legal violations, suggesting he would pardon officials who pushed forward regardless, according to the Post.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pardon you,” he reportedly said in response to legal concerns about the use of eminent domain and contracting procedures.

CNN reported months earlier that Trump told Customs and Border Protection chief Kevin McAleenan that he would be pardoned if he were found to have broken immigration laws. McAleenan is scheduled to travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to discuss immigration issues, according to a Homeland Security Department press release.

The White House declined CNBC’s request for comment on the Post’s report. But deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley, in a statement to the newspaper, said Trump “promised to secure our border with sane, rational immigration policies to make American communities safer, and that’s happening everywhere the wall is being built.”

The reported criticisms, Gidley said, are “just more fabrications by people who hate the fact the status quo, that has crippled this country for decades, is finally changing as President Trump is moving quicker than anyone in history to build the wall, secure the border and enact the very immigration policies the American people voted for.”

Defense Secretary Mark Esper reportedly approved the construction of 20 more miles of border wall Tuesday.

Read the full report from The Washington Post.