Trump defends move to risk government shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is defending his decision to risk a partial government shutdown as he demands money for his long-promised border wall with Mexico.

Trump says a “powerful physical barrier” is “essential to border security” and that “every nation has not only the right, but the absolute duty to protect its borders.”

The president commented during a farm bill signing ceremony.

Earlier Thursday, he told congressional Republicans he wouldn’t support a short-term spending measure passed by the Senate the night before. The government will partially shut down at midnight Friday unless there’s a deal.

Trump says he’s made his position “very clear” and that the package must include money for border security.

But he says he’s willing to accept a steel slat barrier instead of the continuous concrete wall that was the central promise of his 2016 campaign.