Trump Hits Washington Examiner as ‘Fake News’ for Report That He Hasn’t Built Any New Wall
The Washington Examiner reported over the weekend that the Trump administration “has not installed a single mile of new wall in a previously fenceless part of the U.S.-Mexico border in the 30 months since President Trump assumed office.”
A CBP statement to the Examiner confirmed that all the fending completed under Trump’s presidency was “in place of dilapidated designs.”
Reporter Anna Giaritelli notes, “In Trump’s two and a half years in office, his administration has installed an average 1.7 miles of barrier per month, and none of it in areas that did not previously have some sort of barrier.”
The Examiner report got quite a bit of attention over the weekend and was featured on The Drudge Report.
Well, the president himself responded to the report on Twitter Monday night, tweeting, “When we rip down and totally replace a badly broken and dilapidated Barrier on the Southern Border, something which cannot do the job, the Fake News Media gives us zero credit for building a new Wall. We have replaced many miles of old Barrier with powerful new Walls!”
When we rip down and totally replace a badly broken and dilapidated Barrier on the Southern Border, something which cannot do the job, the Fake News Media gives us zero credit for building a new Wall. We have replaced many miles of old Barrier with powerful new Walls!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2019
The Examiner and Giaritelli are standing by the reporting:
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 22, 2019
Was waiting for this in response to my story…
51 miles built in 30 months since Trump took office and it’s all been replacement. Even so, that’s less than 2 miles a month. https://t.co/k59tScHbmp— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) July 22, 2019
And if you’re wondering what may have spurred Trump to tweet tonight, well, Lou Dobbs brought up the Examiner report minutes beforehand. You can watch the segment in question above, via Fox Business Network.
[photo via Mark Wilson / Getty Images]
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