Trump Accused Democrats Of "Presidential Harassment" In A Confusing Tweet About Border Security

For those of you holding out hope that a deal for border security will be reached in Congress soon, you might want to reconsider. As the partial government shutdown rolls into its eighth day with no end in sight, President Trump turned up the heat on Saturday, Dec. 29, sharing a fiery message calling on Democrats to make a deal. But Donald Trump's latest comments on border security took a confusing turn, too, as he also accused Democrats of being too busy with "presidential harassment" than things of more importance, namely "stopping crime and our military!" (???) Elite Daily reached out to the White House for further comment on and clarification of Trump's comments, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

"I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security," tweeted Trump early Saturday morning. "From what I hear, they are spending so much time on Presidential Harassment that they have little time left for things like stopping crime and our military!"

It's anyone's guess as to what kind of harassment he's talking about. Elite Daily reached out to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for further comment on Trump's accusations of "presidential harassment" and the current state of border security negotiations, but did not hear back by the time of publication. But the President has repeatedly blamed Democrats for the partial shutdown (which closed down last week amid deadlocked negotiations over funding for a border wall at the United States southern border), although he previously said he would take the blame for doing so. Trump has requested $5 billion dollars for wall funding while Democrats have offered $1.3 billion for wall fencing and barriers — and both, unfortunately, appear to be sticking to their guns.

This entire debacle has gotten so heated that on Dec. 28, Trump threatened to close the southern border "entirely" if a solution isn't reached soon, which could get even nastier and a lot more expensive than Trump's requested budget itself. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for any additional comment on the matter, but did not hear back. The same day, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney suggested to Fox News that Schumer had been interested in cutting a deal, but Pelosi has been "preventing that from happening" in attempts to secure her speakership in January 2019. Rep. Pelosi's office did not immediately reply to Elite Daily's request for comment on Mulvaney's statement.

Trump himself hasn't been so friendly about why a deal hasn't been reached yet. According to him, Democrats simply don't want him to have border security, not because of principle. While visiting Iraq on Wednesday, Dec. 26, he said:

We want to have strong borders in the United States. The Democrats don’t want to let us have strong borders — only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it.

Previously, the Senate passed a short-term spending bill that would keep the government open through February that didn't include money for a border wall, per The Washington Post. While it seemed like Trump would sign the bill, he ultimately declared that he wouldn't after criticism from conservative allies.

So where does it go from here? Who knows? Elite Daily reached out to the White House for further comment on the state of border security negotiations amid the shutdown, but did not immediately hear back. In the meantime, you can surely expect lots of fiery tweets and maybe even more confusing turns.