US government shutdown: Trump expected to sign border wall deal to avoid closure

'We're going to look at the legislation when it comes and I'll make a determination,' president says on Wednesday

Trump 'not happy' with border wall deal proposed by congressional negotiators

Donald Trump isn't showing his hand yet. But with little Washington appetite for another shutdown, he's expected to grudgingly accept an agreement that would keep the government open but provide just a fraction of the money he's been demanding for his Mexican border wall.

Addressing the deal on Wednesday, Mr Trump said he would be taking “a very serious look” at the text when the White House receives it from Congress. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill were still haggling over final details, but they appeared on track to finish soon.

“We're going to look at the legislation when it comes and I'll make a determination,” the president said, telling reporters he'd be looking out for any “land mines.”

Still, he reiterated his aversion to another shutdown, the likely result if he rejects the agreement, saying one would be “a terrible thing.”

White House officials cautioned on Wednesday that they have yet to receive full legislative language. And Mr Trump has a history of suddenly balking at deals after signaling he would sign them. But barring any major changes, he is expected to sign the deal currently expected to go to a vote at some point before Friday.

Mr Trump and his aides have also signalled that he is preparing to use executive action to try to secure additional funding for the wall by shifting federal dollars without congressional sign-off.

Accepting the deal, worked out by congressional negotiators from both parties, would be a disappointment for a president who has repeatedly insisted he needs $5.7bn (£4.4bn) for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border and painted the project as paramount for national security. Trump turned down a similar deal in December, forcing the 35-day partial shutdown that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and Republicans reeling.

Lawmakers tentatively agreed to a deal that would provide nearly $1.4bn (£1bn) for border barriers and keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on 30 September. Filling in the details has taken some time, as is typical, and aides reported Wednesday that the measure had hit some snags, though they doubted they would prove fatal.

Last-minute hang-ups include whether to include a simple extension of the Violence Against Women Act as Senate Republicans want or move a new, longer-term bill separately, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing.

Democrats are also pressing to try to make sure employees of federal contractors receive back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. The continued haggling means that a House vote can't come before Thursday night, at the earliest.

Given the back-and-forth, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters the president was awaiting a final version before making a final call.

“We want to see the final piece of legislation, and we'll make a determination at that point,” she said Wednesday.

Reporting by AP. View The Independent’s live coverage of the looming shutdown from Wednesday below.

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[13 February 2019 15:40 · Chris Riotta]

It’s another busy and consequential day of news surrounding Donald Trump’s presidency. 

We’re monitoring developments surrounding a new Congressional spending bill with bipartisan support meant to avert another government shutdown, meetings between the White House and , as well as a sealed court hearing in Washington featuring the president’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. 

Follow along for the latest major updates.

[13 February 2019 15:47 · Chris Riotta]

All eyes on Paul Manafort:

He is expected to appear for a sealed court hearing on Wednesday afternoon.

The judge presiding over the Washington trial is set to reveal her findings on whether the president’s former campaign chairman intentionally lied to federal investigators.

The hearing arrives a week after prosecutor Andrew Weissmann told Judge Amy Berman Jackson that a meeting between Manafort and a Russian political operative named Konstantin Kilimnik goes “very much to the heart of what the special counsel’s office is investigating”. 

[13 February 2019 15:52 · Chris Riotta]

Here’s the latest on that meeting between Donald Trump and Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez:

The two leaders are expected to meet for an official state visit at the White House today, where they will likely discuss the crisis in Venezuela and US support for Juan Guaido, who has declared himself the next president of the country. 

Mr Trump has previously cancelled two trips to meet with Mr Marquez in Colombia. 

[13 February 2019 15:55 · Chris Riotta]

Drum roll please…will the president sign the bill?

Donald Trump is also expected to make a decision on a bill produced out of bipartisan meetings between Congressional lawmakers that would effectively avert a federal government shutdown just three weeks after the longest one in US history. 

The bill does not appear to include the president’s demands for billions of dollars towards his campaign promise to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Still, it appears Mr Trump is reportedly intending to sign the bill. 

He told his supporters at a rally in Texas on Monday the wall would somehow still get built with or without Congressional funding — possibly setting the stage for the president to declare a national emergency over the border.

[13 February 2019 16:00 · Chris Riotta]

Speaking of Robert Mueller…

In an interview this week, the president’s former attorney John Dowd described the Russia investigation as a “terrible waste of time” and predicted the American public wouldn’t actually see any report from the special counsel’s probe. 

The comments arrived as Democrats reportedly prepared for a showdown to occur between the US House of Representatives and Mr Trump’s Justice Department over obtaining access to the final Russia report. 

[13 February 2019 16:05 · Chris Riotta]

In a statement before their joint-meeting, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the US and Colombian presidents “will build upon the strong partnership that exists between their nations in pursuit of a more prosperous, secure and democratic Western Hemisphere.”

[13 February 2019 16:25 · Lucy Anna Gray]

In other latest news, a US Air Force officer has defected to Iran and shared information that could cause "serious damage" to America's national security, officials have revealed.

[13 February 2019 16:36 · Lucy Anna Gray]

Congress will not support US military intervention in Venezuela despite comments made by Donald Trump, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said on Wednesday.

US Representative Eliot Engel said: "I do worry about the president's saber rattling, his hints that US military intervention remains an option. I want to make clear to our witnesses and to anyone else watching: US military intervention is not an option."

[13 February 2019 16:51 · Lucy Anna Gray]

As the world waits to see whether Donald Trump will sign the wall funding bill to avoid a government shutdown...

[13 February 2019 16:53 · Chris Riotta]

The White House has condemned violence against journalists after a Donald Trump supporter attacked a BBC cameraman at the president’s rally in Texas.

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders called for supporters to behave “in a peaceful and respectful manner,” amid criticism of Mr Trump for whipping up his crowds over supposed media bias.