South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham insisted that the border wall President Donald Trump has demanded for years was just a “metaphor.”
Graham, who met with Trump at the White House over the weekend as the government shutdown stretched into its second week after Trump refused to sign a spending bill without wall funding, insisted to reporters that the “wall” did not actually mean a “wall.”
“The wall has become a metaphor for border security,” Graham said. “What we’re talking about is a physical barrier where it makes sense. There’s nothing wrong with a physical barrier along the border where it makes sense.”
Top Trump aide agrees:
Outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly made a similar remark to The Los Angeles Times in his exit interview over the weekend.
"To be honest, it’s not a wall,” Kelly told the paper. “The president still says ‘wall’ — oftentimes frankly he’ll say ‘barrier’ or ‘fencing,’ now he’s tended toward steel slats. But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it."
Trump rages at allies, insists he wants a ‘wall’ in some places:
Trump hit back at Graham and Kelly’s remarks after they picked up steam on cable news.
“An all concrete Wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media,” he tweeted. “Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see through (thereby making it possible to see what is happening on both sides). Makes sense to me!”
