President Donald Trump tried to strong-arm Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto into stopping his public rants that his government will never pay for a border wall, according to a transcript obtained by The Washington Post.
"You cannot say that to the press," Trump repeatedly told Peña Nieto during a Jan. 27 phone call, the newspaper said. "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 also suggested to Peña Nieto that the border wall and Mexico's funding of it — one of the commander in chief's biggest campaign promises — was turning into a political liability.
"On the wall, you and I both have a political problem. 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 said.
"I have to have Mexico pay for the wall — I have to. I have been talking about it for a two-year period."