President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised that his proposed border wall is "on its way" and claimed that the structure would be harder to climb than Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
During his speech earlier today to a conference of city and county sheriffs in Washington, Trump declared that he "will never waver from my sacred duty to defend this nation and its people."
"We will get the job done," the president said. "This wall is very, very on its way. And it's a big wall. It's a strong wall, and it's a wall that people aren't going through very easily."
Trump added: "You'd have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one. They would be able to climb Mt. Everest a lot easier, I think. But it's happening."
Although no new structure is being built, Trump has falsely stated multiple times in recent months that the wall is under construction, though sometimes the president refers to it as a "barrier" and other times as steel slats.
President Trump: “The wall is very very on its way, it's happening.…it's a wall people aren't going through very easily…they would able to climb Mt. Everest a lot easier, I think." pic.twitter.com/3a36k6zDcW
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 13, 2019
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen unveiled a new border wall project that was constructed under Trump's administration on the U.S.-Mexico border last October. The structure — 30-foot-tall and 2 and a half miles long — took eight months to construct in California.
By comparison, Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain above sea level, is more than 29,000-foot in height. It is located in the Himalayas and at least several hundred human bodies still remain on the mountain from people who have died attempting to scale it.
Earlier this week, congressional negotiators from both political sides agreed to a deal on the border wall in order to avoid another government shutdown. The agreed-upon amount of almost $1.4 billion for around 55 miles of new barriers along the border is substantially less than Trump's initial demand of $5.7 billion. The package aso includes approximately $23 billion worth of funds in total for additional border security.
"I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled," Trump reportedly said about the deal during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Although it is uncertain whether the president will sign it, his allies have suggested they expect him to do so before exploring other avenues for additional funding.
