Trump Begged Mexican President To Stop Saying Publicly He Won’t Pay For The Wall
This is embarrassing, even for Donald Trump.
Donald Trump begged Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto stop stating that his country would not pay for Trump’s border wall in their first telephone discussion, according to a transcript of the January 27 call obtained by The Washington Post.
“You cannot say that to the press,” Trump told Nieto, begging him to stop his public statements because of the political damage it would have for him.
“If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that,” Trump told Nieto, according to the transcript.
During the call, Trump also told Nieto the wall is “the least important thing we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important.”
Other key moments during the phone call, include more Trump begging.
“On the wall, you and I both have a political problem,” Trump told Nieto.
“My people stand up and say, ‘Mexico will pay for the wall,’ and your people probably say something in a similar but slightly different language.”
Trump then told Nieto that they should just start saying they “will work it out” when answering questions about the wall.
Nieto pushed back at Trump’s demands, saying the wall was “an issue related to the dignity of Mexico and goes to the national pride of my country”
Read the full Washington Post piece here.
[image via Twitter]
