Donald Trump said at a news conference Wednesday that he would not wait until he received assurances of reimbursement from Mexico before he began building his much-ballyhooed border wall.
“I could wait about a year and a half until we finish our negotiations with Mexico, which will start immediately after we get to office, but I don’t want to wait,” Trump said.
“Mike Pence is leading an effort to get final approvals through various agencies and through Congress for the wall to begin,” he continued. “I don’t feel like waiting a year or year and a half. We’re going to start building. Mexico in some form, and there are many different forms, will reimburse us and they will reimburse us for the cost of the wall.”
“Whether it’s a tax or whether it’s a payment, probably less likely that it’s a payment, but it will happen,” he said, recalling that huge crowds at his campaign rallies had demanded that Mexico pay for the wall.
This post has been updated.
