Donald Trump says he ‘never meant’ for Mexico to pay for the wall and people are furious

Donald Trump has claimed that he ‘never meant’ for Mexico to directly pay for the border wall during a televised address which drew some 40 million viewers.

The US president told a crowd of reporters:

When during the campaign I would say Mexico is going to pay for [the wall], obviously I never meant they are going to write out a check. I said they are going to pay for it. They are. They are paying for it with the incredible deal we made called the USMCA.

These claims are categorically misleading. Firstly the United States Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) he is referring to has not yet been approved by Congress.

Trump has made multiple promises that Mexico would pay for the wall (Mexico repeatedly denied that they were going to do this).

More damning still is that it said on Trump's 2016 campaign website Mexico would make a “one –off” payment of “$5-$10billion”.

Journalists were quick to point out the inaccuracies in his statement

Here's video footage of him saying America will be 'reimbursed' by Mexico vis-a-vis the wall

In fact here's a video compilation of all the times he's said Mexico is paying for the wall

He has since thoroughly backtracked, and people on the internet have reacted with fury

People are calling the US president a "con man".

Others find the whole charade morbidly funny

Emphasis on 'morbid.'

The US president’s statement on Thursday marks one of the rare times since taking office he has explicitly denied earlier promises of direct payment.

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