{"id":38975,"date":"2023-10-31T07:25:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T07:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/politics\/fact-check-trump-falsely-claims-hed-promised-mexico-would-pay-for-a-piece-of-the-border-wall\/"},"modified":"2023-10-31T07:25:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T07:25:31","slug":"fact-check-trump-falsely-claims-hed-promised-mexico-would-pay-for-a-piece-of-the-border-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=38975","title":{"rendered":"Fact check: Trump falsely claims he\u2019d promised Mexico would pay for \u2018a piece\u2019 of the border wall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n Former President Donald Trump attempted to rewrite history in a speech in Iowa on Sunday, falsely claiming he had campaigned for the presidency in 2016 on a promise that Mexico would pay for \u201ca piece\u201d of his border wall.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump, now running again for the Republican presidential nomination, has been criticized by rival candidates such as\u00a0Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie<\/a>\u00a0for breaking his signature campaign promise to get Mexico to pay for the wall. The wall was\u00a0paid for by Americans; the Trump administration directed more than $16 billion in federal money toward the project.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a Sunday speech in Iowa, Trump\u00a0argued\u00a0that he \u201cgot much more money\u201d than Mexico paying for the wall itself, since Mexico\u00a0agreed\u00a0during his presidency to deploy thousands of troops to assist in thwarting migrants heading toward the US. But then, while attacking his critics, Trump inaccurately described his pre-presidency pledges about how the wall itself would be funded.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump said: \u201cSo with all those losers out there that say \u2013 \u2018Trump never got the \u2013\u2019 you remember, I used to say, \u2018Mexico will pay for the piece of the wall.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He continued: \u201cI\u2019ll say, \u2018What\u2019s gonna happen if they [Mexico] fight,\u2019 I say, \u2018The wall gets higher.\u2019 We all had a lot of fun. But I said, \u2018Mexico will pay, for a piece of the wall.\u2019 Well, there was no legal instrument to do that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Facts First<\/strong>:\u00a0Trump\u2019s claim is false. During his 2016 campaign, Trump promised over and over again in his public remarks, with no qualifications, that Mexico would pay for the entire wall.\u00a0<\/em>\n <\/p>\n

\n A Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to a Sunday request from CNN to identify any examples from the 2016 election of Trump pledging that Mexico would pay for \u201ca piece\u201d of the wall.\u00a0A CNN search of\u00a0Factba.se, the most comprehensive public database of Trump\u2019s remarks from the 2016 election, turned up no examples of him doing so.\n <\/p>\n

\n A signature promise Trump made over and over again<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s pledge that Mexico would pay for the whole wall, period, was one of the staples of his raucous campaign rallies in 2015 and 2016. The pledge often involved a call-and-response exchange in which Trump would promise to build the wall and ask the crowd who was going to pay for it; the crowd would shout \u201cMexico!\u201d and Trump would tell them they were correct.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe will build the wall, believe me. And who is going to pay for the wall?\u201d Trump asked in a March 2016\u00a0rally\u00a0speech\u00a0in Michigan; after the crowd shouted \u201cMexico,\u201d Trump said, \u201c100%, folks. One hundred \u2013 I don\u2019t mean like\u202699.2%, I mean 100%.\u201d He scoffed at \u201clightweights\u201d who said he couldn\u2019t get Mexico to pay for the wall, repeating, \u201cI said 100% \u2013 not 99%. I said 100%.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump made similar remarks at\u00a0numerous other events\u00a0during the Republican presidential primary in 2015 and early 2016 and during the general election later in 2016.\n <\/p>\n

\n For example, he\u00a0said\u00a0in a speech in Massachusetts in November 2015: \u201cSo we\u2019re gonna build the wall. It\u2019s gonna be a great wall, and it\u2019s gonna be paid for by Mexico. Believe me \u2013 100%, 100%. We\u2019re not paying for it. Mexico is paying for it. Believe me.\u201d\u00a0He\u00a0said\u00a0in a speech in Florida in August 2016:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re gonna build the wall and Mexico is going to pay for the wall, 100%.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Even when Trump tweaked his rhetoric at one point late in the campaign, claiming that Mexico would reimburse the US for the wall, he declared it would be a complete reimbursement. He\u00a0said\u00a0in a speech in Pennsylvania in October 2016: \u201cRemember, I said Mexico is paying for the wall \u2013 with the full understanding that the country of Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such a wall. OK? We\u2019re gonna have the wall. Mexico is gonna pay for the wall.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump has made\u00a0various other false claims\u00a0about how the wall was funded as he has tried to combat criticism of his failure to keep that campaign promise. In early 2020, he\u00a0claimed\u00a0that \u201credemption money\u201d from undocumented immigrants was paying for the wall, which wasn\u2019t true even if he was talking about remittance payments as some experts guessed. Later in 2020, he\u00a0claimed\u00a0that some sort of \u201cborder tax\u201d was about to start paying for the project, though that was baseless too.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n