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Trump taking US govt. hostage to build border wall: Academic

Friday, 04 January 2019 7:09 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 04 January 2019 7:34 AM ]

US President Donald Trump arrives in the briefing room at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 3, 2019 to speak to the press about border security. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump tries to use the shutdown of his administration as a leverage to push the House of Representatives to accept his bid for building a wall along the Mexican border, says a commentator.

In a Wednesday meeting with top congressional leaders, Trump turned down demands by Democrats to put an end on a partial shutdown of the federal government over the funding of his controversial border wall.

John Mason, professor of political science at the William Paterson University, told Press TV on Friday that Trump is “taking much of the government hostage basically in an effort to force the new House majority that is talking about something else and investigating him and his finances but also sort of force them in Mexican standoff where Nancy Pelosi will be eventually forced to surrender.”

But, the professor noted, Pelosi asserted that “she has a co-equal power, according to the US constitution, with the president;” so, the push for forcing the House to allocate $5.6 billion for the wall would not bear any fruit.