President Donald Trump lashed out on Twitter on Wednesday at critics who say he is making paltry progress at building a wall along the southern border even as he admitted much of the work is actually renovation of already existing barriers.
“Much of the Wall being built at the Southern Border is a complete demolition and rebuilding of old and worthless barriers with a brand new Wall and footings,” the president wrote in a tweet. “Problem is, the Haters say that is not a new Wall, but rather a renovation. Wrong, and we must build where most needed.”
Trump added that “tremendous work is being done on pure renovation - fixing existing Walls that are in bad condition and ineffective, and bringing them to a very high standard!”
Trump’s tweets appear to have been in response to a segment on “Fox & Friends,” as they were sent about an hour after the issue was discussed based on a Bloomberg report that only 1.7 miles of fencing has been put up with the $1.57 billion that Congress appropriated last year.
According to Bloomberg, the federal judge was told the information by a lawyer from the House of Representatives as he weighs requests to block Trump from using funds not authorized by Congress to build the wall.
Earlier this week Trump promised supporters that 500 miles of wall would be completed by the 2020 election, an increase from his previous pledge to have at least 400 miles finished, according to Politico.
Politico pointed out that Trump has been under pressure to show progress, even going to California earlier this year to unveil the first new segment of replacement border wall completed during his administration, even though that project had been in the works since the Obama era.