President Trump wants Congress to get medieval.
In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump again argued that his proposed border wall, which he is demanding Congress set aside $5.7 billion to fund, is a "necessity" and that technology like drones isn't an adequate replacement. Some critics have referred to Trump's wall as medieval, and he apparently strongly agrees.
"They say it's a medieval solution, a wall," Trump said. "That's true. It's medieval because it worked then, and it worked even better now."
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As he has done in the past, Trump then pointed to Israel as an example of a wall working, adding that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally told him that "we put up a wall" and "it was 99.9 percent effective."
Trump spoke ahead of a meeting on Capitol Hill that's taking place amid the ongoing shutdown battle. Although he previously said he would be "proud" to shut down the government over border security, Trump said Wednesday that this is "not a fight I wanted." But he defended his position that he will not re-open the government until Congress agrees to the wall funding, saying that he has "tremendous support" and that Republicans, especially his base, would "hit" him if he "gave up on border security." He also once again signaled that he's considering declaring a national emergency to fund the wall if Democrats don't go his way. "We might work a deal, and if we don’t, I might go that route," he said.
Watch Trump's comments below. Brendan Morrow
