President Trump just finished up a pool spray with reporters at the White House during his meeting on immigration and it made some news.
First up, Trump still wants a wall, but it doesn’t have to be a very long wall:
On building the wall, President Trump tells the White House pool:
"We don't need a 2000 mile wall."
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) January 9, 2018
However, Trump added that “if you don’t have the wall, you can’t have security”:
President Trump goes on to say:
"If you don't have the wall, you can't have security."
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) January 9, 2018
But there has to be some sort of wall:
Extraordinary event at the WH: The president invited the press pool into his meeting with congressional leaders on DACA. We stayed in the meeting for nearly one hour. Lots of talk of bipartisanship but the president also made it clear the wall must be part of any agreement pic.twitter.com/pc3iH5N8Ec
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) January 9, 2018
As usual, the immigration talks are hard to follow because there's no obvious agreement on definitions. Even phrases like "the wall" are extremely ambiguous.
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 9, 2018
Dems seemed on board, at least for now:
Invited to make a statement, @SenatorDurbin tells @POTUS that Dems feel they can do both DACA and border security. But time running out. Says as of March 5th, a thousand a day will lose DACA protection. "So lives are hanging in the balance," he says. pic.twitter.com/C2FnZuwgwl
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 9, 2018
As for the immigration deal, it has to be a “bill of love”:
The President says any bipartisan immigration deal in Congress should be a "bill of love"
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) January 9, 2018
Um, didn’t Jeb! try that?
2018 coming up @JebBush >https://t.co/LqNQjlVSY0
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) January 9, 2018
“It should be a bill of love,” @realDonaldTrump says of immigration plan. Are @JebBush ears ringing somewhere today?
— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) January 9, 2018
Trump is also open to comprehensive immigration reform:
Trump said he would support a DACA deal that lawmakers come up with even as they complain WH won't specify what Trump will accept. Then Trump says he hopes to do "comprehensive" immigration bill after DACA is done.
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) January 9, 2018
Earlier, Trump weighed in on this week’s shiny object:
NEW: President Trump says he likes Oprah, but does not think she is going to run for President, according to the WH pool
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) January 9, 2018
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