Trump threatens to close US border with Mexico on heels of raucous post-Mueller rally

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Donald Trump has claimed he may close the border with Mexico next week - the latest threat from an a newly emboldened president following the completion of the Mueller report.

Speaking to reporters at his estate in Florida, the president said he would take the step - potentially disrupting millions of legal border crossings and billions of dollars in trade - if Mexico did not stop immigrants reaching the United States. His words were an indication his mind is fixed firmly on the re-election battle he will soon be embroiled in, and the need to energise his base ahead of what will be a bitter fight.

“There’s a very good likelihood that I’ll be closing the border next week, and that will be just fine with me,” he said.

Reuters pointed out the president has repeatedly said he would close the US border with Mexico during his two years in office, and has not followed through. However, his latest threat comes as the government says it is struggling to deal with a surge of asylum seekers from countries in Central America who travel through Mexico.

Department of Homeland Security officials warned that traffic with Mexico could slow as the agency shifts 750 border personnel from ports of entry to help process asylum seekers who are turning up between official crossing points, the news agency said.

Some of those delays were already being felt on both sides of the international border. Reports said that on Friday afternoon, the wait was longer than usual on the Mexican side of the crossing between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, with long lines of freight trucks carrying goods from Mexican factories into the United States.

Mr Trump’s threat was just the latest indication he is feeling newly empowered since the completion of the Mueller report. The report found his campaign did not collude with Russia, and while Mr Mueller pointedly did not reach a conclusion as to whether or not he obstructed justice, attorney general William Barr said he and his deputy, had decided there was insufficient evidence of a crime.

“Robert Mueller was a Hero to the Radical Left Democrats, until he ruled that there was No Collusion with Russia (so ridiculous to even say!). After more than two years since the “insurance policy” statement was made by a dirty cop, I got the answers I wanted, the Truth,” Mr Trump tweeted on Friday evening.

On Thursday evening, Mr Trump delivered a wild address to supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, branding the Mueller investigation “the single greatest political hoax in the history of our country” and accusing House Democrats of “defrauding the public with ridiculous bulls***”.

The president also thanked his friends at Fox News for their support, attacked renewable energy and asylum seekers and, bizarrely, applauded the nearby Great Lakes for their “record deepness”.

His son, Donald Trump Jr, smirked as the crowd chanted “AOC sucks!”, in reference to Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on the same day that details of the president’s dodging an interview with the FBI special counsel during the 22-month probe began to emerge.

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