Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday that the Pentagon is prepared to provide additional financial support for the president’s border wall.
The Washington Post, citing internal planning figures, reported that President Donald Trump was preparing to divert an additional $7.2 billion from the Pentagon’s military construction and counter-narcotics funds to border wall construction. The figure would be five times what Congress authorized for that purpose in the 2020 budget.
“The first priority of the DOD is protection of the homeland,” Esper said during a Pentagon press conference with his Japanese counterpart on Tuesday. “So the southwest border is a security issue. And so we’ll see how things play out, but we remain committed to supporting the Department of Homeland Security and it’s mission.”
