Trump became President on the 20th January 2017. On his 8th day in office Trump called the Mexican President, Pena Nieto’
After a long conversation Nieto made it clear that Mexico would not pay for ‘Trump’s wall’. At this point Trump began to plead:
“We are both in a little bit of a political bind because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall…..I have to. I have been talking about it for a two- year period, and the reason I say ‘they are going to pay for the wall’ is because Mexico has made a fortune out of the stupidity of US trade reps.”
Nieto’s response was crystal clear……Mr President, let us stop talking about the wall. My position has been and will continue to be very firm. Mexico cannot pay for the wall.
Three months later Trump gave an interview to CBS’S Face The Nation, a Sunday morning politics show. Completely ignoring Nieto’s absolute refusal to pay for the monstrously expensive border wall, Trump told host, John Dickenson, that Mexico would pay all the costs, which was obviously an outrageous lie. He continued – “They’ll [Mexican government] be very happy to pay.”
According to an internal report by Homeland Security ‘Trump’s Wall’ would cost $21 billion.
In a White House press briefing the following August, Trump continued to insist that Mexico would pay for the walt….it never happened.