Fox News' Chris Wallace grills Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Trump's wall, especially a terrorism talking point


White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sat down with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace on Sunday, and she made the White House's case that Democrats, not President Trump, were the intransigent party in the negotiations to end the government shutdown. Trump isn't demanding just a wall, she argued, but the wall is a huge part of the "border security" the Democrats say they support. Wallace seemed skeptical, and he took special issue with the idea, put forward by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, that thousands of "special interest aliens" are stopped at the southern border each year.
"Special interest aliens are just people who have come from countries that have ever produced a terrorist, they're not terrorists themselves," Wallace noted, adding that the State Department says "quote, 'there was no credible evidence' of any terrorist coming across the border from Mexico." Sanders replied that "we know that, roughly, nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border." Wallace cut her off, saying that statistic refers to people detained at airports.
"It's by air, it's by land, it's by sea, it's all of the above," Sanders said. "But they're not coming across the southern border, Sarah," Wallace said, "they're coming and they're being stopped at airports."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sanders also suggested Trump really believes he can declare an emergency to build the wall using money earmarked for the military, a controversial idea also cautiously promoted by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on CNN's State of the Union. But later on that show, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called that idea a desperate "nonstarter." Look, he told Jake Tapper, "if Harry Truman couldn't nationalize the steel industry during wartime, this president doesn't have the power to declare an emergency and build a multibillion-dollar wall on the border." Watch below. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
June 28 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include stupid wars, a critical media, and mask standards
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Palestine Action: protesters or terrorists?
Talking Point Damaging RAF equipment at Brize Norton blurs line between activism and sabotage, but proscription is a drastic step
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial
Speed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confession
speed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulder
speed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum
speed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'
-
Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'
speed read A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California
-
Suspect charged after 11 die in Vancouver car attack
Speed Read Kai-Ji Adam Lo drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival