begin quote from:
Trump denies deal with Dems, but says they're 'close'
Trump, Dems move closer to deal on DACA
Story highlights
- The bombshell developments were met with immediate outrage from conservatives and put pressure on the President's Republican allies in Congress
- Trump told reporters that "the wall will come later"
Washington (CNN)President
Donald Trump is moving closer to a deal with Democrats that would
protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from
deportation.
But the
parameters of any deal, including a potential pathway to citizenship for
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) participants and funding
for his marquee campaign promise of a wall along the US-Mexico border
are up in the air as the White House and Congress grapple with the
impact of a Wednesday dinner between Trump and Democratic leaders.
The
bombshell developments, which were first announced by Democratic
leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi and reiterated by Trump
himself Thursday morning, were met with immediate outrage from
conservatives and put pressure on the President's Republican allies in
Congress.
A
deal would be the second major Trump-Pelosi-Schumer pact this month,
following the agreement on the debt ceiling and government spending.
Trump
said House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
are "very much on board" with plans to make the DACA program -- which
protected nearly 800,000 individuals who were brought to the United
States illegally as children from deportation -- permanent.
Ryan,
speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, described the Trump meeting with
Democrats as "a discussion, not an agreement or a negotiation."
The Trump administration announced last week it would give Congress six months to pass legislation preserving those provisions before the program was terminated.
The
President also has indicated that funding for the wall -- a signature
campaign promise -- would be part of an agreement, but it is unclear
when that would happen or if it would be a prerequisite for a DACA deal.
Trump, in Florida to view damage
from Hurricane Irma, said he is not looking at "citizenship" or
"amnesty" but that they are "looking at allowing people to stay here."
"We
are not looking at citizenship. We are not looking at amnesty," Trump
said. "We are looking at allowing people to stay here. We are working
with everybody."
He added: "If we don't have the wall, we are doing nothing."
But earlier Thursday, Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for Florida that "the wall will come later."
And
his comments on citizenship came only minutes after Lindsay Walters, a
White House spokesperson, told reporters on Air Force One that Trump
would talk about an immigration reform bill that "could include legal
citizenship over a period of time."
"The
Trump administration will not be discussing amnesty," Walters said.
"What the Trump administration will discuss is a responsible path
forward in immigration reform, that could include legal citizenship over
a period of time."
Trump also
defended on Twitter the undocumented immigrants protected under DACA,
calling them "good, educated and accomplished young people" who "have
been in our country for many years through no fault of their own."
Wall or no wall? And when?
The
two Democratic leaders announced that following a dinner at the White
House, they had "agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law
quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the
wall, that's acceptable to both sides."
Trump insisted on Twitter
Thursday morning that "no deal was made" on DACA, and Schumer and
Pelosi later issued a statement clarifying that what was agreed upon was
Trump supporting congressional actions to put DACA protections into
law.
"What remains to be negotiated
are the details of border security, with a mutual goal of finalizing
all details as soon as possible," the statement said. "While both sides
agreed that the wall would not be any part of this agreement, the
President made clear he intends to pursue it at a later time, and we
made clear we would continue to oppose it."
In Florida, Trump called the wall "vital."
"The wall to me is vital," Trump said. "If I don't get the wall then we will become the obstruction."
He added of Democrats, "at some point they're gonna have to (fund the wall). They cannot obstruct the wall."
"Whether
it's in the budget or another vehicle -- they need to make sure the
wall is funded or we're not doing any deals," Trump said.
But
earlier Thursday, Trump told reporters as he departed the White House
for Florida that "the wall will come later," making it unclear when an
agreement would have to be reached.
At the White House, Trump told reporters that progress continues on the wall.
"We're
right now renovating large sections of wall," he said. "Making it brand
new. We're doing a lot of renovations we're building four different
samples of the wall to see which one we're going to choose. The wall is
going to be built -- it will be funded a little bit later."
Conservatives outraged
If
a deal on some immigration and border issues happens, it would be the
second major agreement between Trump, Schumer and Pelosi this month
following their pact last week to raise the debt ceiling and extend
government funding into December that left the GOP and some of Trump's
closest allies flabbergasted.
The
bipartisan DREAM Act -- a more comprehensive immigration bill that was
proposed years ago but never passed -- would be part of the proposed
arrangement, a person briefed on the meeting said Wednesday night.
Pelosi briefed her whip team Thursday morning on the DACA talks, according to two Democrats who attended the weekly meeting.
"She
said that they agreed to work out a solution," Rep. Mike Thompson,
D-California, told CNN. "I think we are well on our way.
Another Democratic source in the meeting told CNN that there was "only positive reaction" from those in the room.
Schumer
and Pelosi's statement on Wednesday quickly sent shockwaves through
Trump's conservative base, as his hardline stance on immigration was a
core tenet of his campaign.
"Unbelievable! Amnesty is a pardon for immigration law breakers coupled with the reward of the objective of their crime," tweeted Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.
He continued:
"@RealDonaldTrump If AP is correct, Trump base is blown up, destroyed,
irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible."
Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham tweeted that "Dems' 'Border security' pledge is MEANINGLESS." Staunch Trump ally Sean Hannity added,
"Weak R's have betrayed voters. @POTUS needs to stay the course and
keep his promises or it's over! Pelosi and Schumer can never be
trusted."
And Breitbart News, run
by Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, headlined news of the
alleged deal Wednesday with "Amnesty Don."
Amid the criticism Wednesday night, Trump weighed in on tax reform and his former election rival, Hillary Clinton, waiting to respond to the reaction until Thursday morning.
GOP leaders absent from dinner
Making
a deal that finds a way to keep the individuals who benefit under DACA
in the United States shows the challenge of striking bipartisan deals in
Washington, and no agreement will move forward in Congress unless Ryan
and McConnell agree on it.
Congressional
Republican leaders were absent from Wednesday's dinner, which featured
Chinese food and chocolate pie for dessert, sources said, and it was not
immediately clear how they would handle such legislation on Capitol
Hill.
The dinner took place the same day Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy met with Democratic leadership and representatives from groups in the Capitol.
"It's
the beginning of a listening that the President asked us to do,"
McCarthy said. "We've got a broken immigration system we've got to fix.
It was the beginning of a discussion where we were listening to
concerns."
There was significant
trepidation among senior GOP aides before Wednesday night's dinner that
Trump would make concessions to Democrats on DACA. Behind the scenes,
Republican leadership has been crafting a plan and process to get
address the issue while also getting the conference comfortable with the
extent of the border security money and resources they planned on
securing for any deal.
The primary
reason for the silence from GOP leadership offices is they were trying
to figure out what actually happened during the dinner.
"You apparently know more than we do," one senior GOP aide told CNN.
This story has been updated.
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