President Donald Trump said it is unlikely he will risk a government shutdown before the midterm elections over his desire to fund a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
His comments came in an interview with television’s "Fox & Friends" prior to the start of a Thursday rally in Montana.
"And my inclination -- if it was up to me, I would shut down the government over border security," he said."And I guess when you get right down to it, it is up to me."
But he added:"I don't want to do anything that will potentially hurt us. I have a feeling that the Republicans will do really well in the midterms between the tax cuts and all of the other things we have done."
Trump said he expects to seek funding for the wall right after the midterm elections.
"I have the commitment from (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell from, (House Speaker) Paul Ryan, from everybody," he said."We do it right after the election where hopefully, frankly, it will be easy because we have more Republicans, not less.
"We are doing very well. And I think we are doing really very well in the House. We will see how it comes out. It will be an exciting day."
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney had told congressional Republicans he was advising Trump not to seek a shutdown later this month – and wanted them to pass a spending bill by the October 1 deadline, The Washington Post reported.
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