As we told you earlier, White House press secretary Sarah Sander signaled that President Trump was ready to cut a deal to keep the government open but not allocate his requested $5 billion in funding for the border wall:
A senior congressional Republican aide says @PressSec’s remark on Fox “opens up a path toward resolution where there wasn’t really one before” on averting a government shutdown.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 18, 2018
Add Ann Coulter and the Drudge Report to the growing chorus of voices not happy with the apparent White House cave on border wall financing:
Hey, @FredHonnold! You lost the bet. Today's Drudge headline:
"WALL FUNDING OFF TABLE" https://t.co/6wzLkvN6Kf
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 18, 2018
Oof:
Ann’s not buying the White House spin:
Today's BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: Miles completed yesterday–Zero; Miles completed since Inauguration–Zero. NEXT UPDATE TOMORROW.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 18, 2018
What happened was, we voted for a guy who promised to build a wall — and you won't believe what happened next! https://t.co/ZvsiHHI3ef
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 18, 2018
GOP senators, however, don’t seem fully on board yet that the president can use military spending to fund the wall:
Senator Shelby dodges on whether Trump has legal authority to use military funds to build a border wall, saying that the president "has got the power and right to defend and secure the borders, and defend the nation."
"The particulars of what they want to do, I haven't seen."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 18, 2018
Trump could still change his mind on the shutdown, of course:
Yeah, I’m going to wait until Trump says no shutdown. Especially after he sees cable coverage.
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) December 18, 2018
Or he can take the deal and then tweet about it:
Don't discount the classic Trump strategy of approving a deal, not liking the coverage, but then finding it's too late and getting bullied into taking the deal anyway while complaining on Twitter https://t.co/6SK91lqQxV
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) December 18, 2018
Stay tuned:
Republican senators are circumspect about Sarah Sanders' comments; they know how quickly and sharply the White House's positions can change. Shelby says the "situation's been fluid" and they'll know more Wednesday or Thursday on averting a shutdown. "The clock is ticking."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 18, 2018
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Related:
'Groundwork for a wall cave'? Sarah Sanders suggests 'other funding resources' for border wall during interview on Fox News https://t.co/kS8o71WfYn
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 18, 2018