shut down the government over funding for the border wall?

Starting on December 22, 2018, the federal government was shut down for 35 days over Trump’s promise to veto a budget that didn’t include nearly $6 billion in funding for a border wall with Mexico.

Trump claimed that most of the 800,000 federal workers affected by the shut down wanted it to continue until the wall received funding.

As his approval rating declined over the shut down, Trump eventually instead declared a state of national emergency in order to attain funding through other means, siphoning billions from the Defense Department, despite originally claiming that Mexico would pay for it. The shut down was the longest in American history.

The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Government Shuts Down Over Border Wall Funding 
Reuters – Backing down, Trump agrees to end shutdown without border wall money
Wikipedia – 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown

siphoned billions from the Defense Department to pay for the border wall?

Despite repeatedly claiming that Mexico would pay for the border wall, Trump requested and redirected billions of dollars for funding.

Trump repeatedly ran into funding difficulties through the official budget. The federal government shut down for 35 days starting in December 2018 when Trump refused to sign any funding bill that didn’t include money for the wall.

In March 2019, The Department of Defense is shifting $1 billion from a military personnel account to build a 57-mile fence

In August 2019, a quarter billion dollars were taken from FEMA, the federal organization responsible for disaster response and funding.

In September 2019, The Pentagon announced that 127 military projects would be delayed or suspended in order to provide $3.6 billion in funding for the wall.

In April, 2020, an additional half billion was pulled from overseas military construction projects.

In June 2020, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that $2.5 billion in Defense Department funds were diverted illegally for the wall, as it was without congressional approval.

A private organization that sought to gain additional funding, We Build the Wall, raised approximately $25 million for the effort. In August 2020, longtime Trump ally and chair of the organization Steve Bannon was arrested for fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

As of January 2020, from official and redirected funds, $11 billion had been spent on the wall at a cost of approximately $20 million per mile.

NPR – Pentagon Takes $1 Billion From Military Personnel Account To Build Border Fence
US News & World Report – Trump Administration to Redirect FEMA Money to Border
Vanity Fair – Trump Is Using More Pentagon Money to Pay For His Border Wall
Politico – Pentagon pulls money from overseas projects to pay for border wall
Wikipedia – We Build The Wall
NPR – $11 Billion And Counting: Trump’s Border Wall Would Be The World’s Most Costly

repeatedly claimed that Mexico would pay for the border wall?

Trump claimed repeatedly during his campaign and into his term that Mexico would pay for a wall along the 2,000 mile border between Mexico and the United States.

Over the course of his term, Trump backtracked from his statements, claiming instead that it would be indirectly be paid for with Mexico tariffs, or through solar power generated by the wall, or other vague means.

Trump diverted billions of dollars from the Department of Defense to pay for the wall, which ultimately led to few new miles of wall and primary replaced preexisting fencing.

BBC News – Donald Trump: ‘Mexico will pay for the wall’
Politifact – Build a wall, and make Mexico pay for it 
The Washington Post – There’s new wall on 194 miles of the border. Sixteen miles didn’t have a barrier before.
Los Angeles Times – Trump campaigns on new border wall. There’s not much of it.
Politifact – “On the Southern border, as you know, the wall is going up, it’s going up very rapidly. We’re at 182 miles.” 
USA Today – A 2,000-mile search for answers

More assuredly to come soon

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