Trump administration to take money from military projects to build border wall

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has told several lawmakers that money is being taken away from military construction projects in their districts in order to fund President Trump's southern border wall, several House aides told Politico.

The Trump administration is planning on commandeering $3.6 billion, with half coming from military construction projects inside the United States and its territories and the other half from projects outside the U.S. Millions of those dollars would have gone to military bases and defense installations, Politico reports.

A Pentagon official told reporters on Tuesday that about 127 projects will be affected under the plan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Esper notified him that some money will come from New York's United States Military Academy West Point. "It is a slap to the face to the members of the Armed Forces who serve our country that President Trump is willing to cannibalize already allocated military funding to boost his own ego and for a wall he promised Mexico would pay to build," he said in a statement.

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In February, Trump declared a national emergency in order to divert $8 billion from federal accounts to the border wall.