The Shutdown, According to Trump

Most federal workers, even those with rent owed and bills due, would gladly forgo their paycheck as a measure of support for his $5.6 billion border wall, President Trump said on Friday.

He also noted that Mexico would actually be paying for the wall through a new trade agreement, which at the very least raised the question of why the government had to be shut down over a funding dispute involving American tax dollars if the funding was coming from another country. And then there was a Plan C: He said he could use “emergency powers” to build the wall.

The wall was needed for many reasons, Mr. Trump said. Stopping drug and human trafficking, and a nonspecific reference to a torrent of terrorists and coyotes easily flowing in over the southern border. “They drive right in, and they make a left,” he said.

But there also was sunshine amid the gloom. Mr. Trump spoke of a stunningly positive jobs report and a stock market that soared, at least for a day. Lower gas prices? One person to thank.

The purpose of the president’s hastily arranged, hourlong news conference in the Rose Garden was to give his side of the negotiations over a partial government shutdown that stretches into its third week on Saturday. And, for the record, Mr. Trump is not calling the partial closing of the government “a shutdown.”

“I don’t call it a shutdown,” he said. “I call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and for the safety of our country.”

The news conference was freewheeling, and the president seemed in high spirits, even with the government shuttered in many places. “Should we keep this going or not?” he said.

Here are some takeaways and fact-checks.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/politics/fact-check-trump-shutdown.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR3RrlN74kuXCpyF5UicGHlBhTfqY2dcFLINOzV3zmYkJJUlZI-Zl4Cx7lU