As the partial government shutdown enters its third week, President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address from the Oval Office about what he calls the “humanitarian and national security crisis” at the border.
Trump spoke Tuesday night. Watch the president’s remarks in the player above.
Trump said in his less than 10-minute address that all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration, adding that it “strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages.”
Trump has refused to back down from his demand for $5 billion in border wall funding — an issue at the heart of a partial government shutdown that is now into its third week. Congressional Democrats have been unwilling to meet that request. With both sides still at a stalemate, the partial government shutdown, at 17 days and counting, is already one of the longest shutdowns in the past several decades.
READ MORE: Trump says there’s a ‘crisis’ at the border. Here’s what the data says
After Trump announced his address in a tweet, major networks debated whether they would carry the speech. By Monday night, many had decided they would.
I am pleased to inform you that I will Address the Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border. Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2019
The address comes two days before Trump is scheduled to travel to the southern border to bolster his case for the border wall.
READ MORE: How this shutdown compares to every other since 1976
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