Staff from Congressional leadership and the White House discussed border security and the partial government shutdown with the Homeland Security Secretary and Vice President Mike Pence Saturday.
Pence called the discussion “productive,” though he did not provide details of those discussions. “Secretary Nielsen was able to provide a full briefing on the crisis at the Southern border,” the vice president’s office told reporters. “The conversation was productive and they agreed to meet again tomorrow afternoon.”
Productive discussion w/ Congressional leadership staff at @WhiteHouse. @SecNielsen gave a full presentation on crisis along Southern Border. We reaffirmed @POTUS’ commitment to secure the border, build the wall, keep Americans safe & reopen gov’t. Discussions continue tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/C7k9Sg8guY
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 5, 2019
The Vice President announced following the meeting. “We reaffirmed @POTUS’ commitment to secure the border, build the wall, keep Americans safe & reopen gov’t.”
Participants did not delve deeply into the dollar amount according to the vice president’s office, but “priorities for security” were discussed. The vice president make clear the president’s position on border wall funding. Democrat congressional staff participants in the meeting requested more details on DHS needs.
The goal of the meeting was “to find a solution- not simply to end the gov’t shutdown- to provide funding to end the crisis at our southern border, achieve real border security & to build the wall!” Pence said ahead of the meeting.
Happening now: @vp, @SecNielsen, Jared Kushner sit down with representatives from Democrat & Republican congressional leadership to find a path forward to secure the border & reopen the government
— Alyssa Farah (@VPPressSec) January 5, 2019
The meeting also included Senior Adviser to the President Jared Kushner, according to Pence’s Press Secretary Alyssa Farah. The meeting was set to “find a path forward to secure the border & reopen the government.”
Following the meeting, President Trump tweeted:
V.P. Mike Pence and team just left the White House. Briefed me on their meeting with the Schumer/Pelosi representatives. Not much headway made today. Second meeting set for tomorrow. After so many decades, must finally and permanently fix the problems on the Southern Border!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2019
Michelle Moons is a White House Correspondent for Breitbart News — follow on Twitter @MichelleDiana and Facebook
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