Trump: Privately-Funded Border Wall ‘Was Only Done to Make Me Look Bad’

President Trump says the construction of a privately-funded border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border was done to make him “look bad.”

In a post on Sunday, Trump said he “disagreed with doing” a “very small (tiny) section of wall” by a group known as We Build the Wall, which raised at least $25 million from Americans wanting to help construct a border wall to reduce illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

A portion of the privately-funded border wall, constructed in just weeks along the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas, is under scrutiny for its effectiveness — prompting an engineering inspection to review whether the constructed barrier is eroding.

We Build the Wall officials have said they contributed $1.5 million towards the privately built border wall project in the Rio Grande Valley region. Defenders have touted U.S. Border Patrol chiefs praising the project’s effectiveness.

Trump wrote in response to the news:

The International Boundary and Water Commission and the National Butterfly Center have sued over the construction of the privately-funded border wall.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Paxton Warner said engineers are looking at four specific areas where erosion may be occurring and attorney for the National Butterfly Center Javier Peña alleges the erosion is significant.

Trump touted the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) progress on construction of border wall in contrast to the privately-funded project. According to Trump, DHS has built about 240 miles of wall since January 2017 and claimed that 450 miles would be completed by the end of the year.

In January, though, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf confirmed that those 450 miles of border wall includes constructed barriers and those under construction, but not fully completed.

Trump originally wanted between 500 to 550 miles of border wall completed by the end of his first term, but DHS personnel changes, waits on federal permits and contracts, and a slow start in 2017 have delayed construction.

The nearly 2,000-mile long U.S.-Mexico border has less than 700 miles of existing barrier and the majority remains open. Much of Trump’s border wall replaces dilapidated fencing and vehicle barriers built by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.