Donald Trump threatens government shutdown over border wall

Donald Trump has threatened to upend a deal with his own party and shut down the US government if he doesn’t get his way on border security, including the wall he wants built on along the border with Mexico.

In a tweet yesterday, he resurrected demands for a new immigration system - and funding for the border wall. 

The threat came as a surprise to many Republicans in Congress, who “thought they had reached a deal with Trump to delay a confrontation on funding for the wall until after the November midterm elections”, says the The New York Times.

The current spending bill, pushed through congress in March, expires in September, just weeks before the midterm elections. Republican candidates are concerned that more evidence of political dysfunction in Washington may hurt their chances at the polls.

A shutdown would also delay Republican attempts to confirm Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has already cancelled much of the August recess because he “needed the additional time to make progress on Trump’s nominees and pass appropriations bills”, CNN reports.