barriers like these, it does not cover the concrete wall the president campaigned on. many of the president s conservative allies are slamming the deal. today, house speaker nancy pelosi was asked if it s a win for her party. well, it s not a question of win. it s a win for the american people. it s a compromise. reporter: the president s options now? declaring a national emergency and using money already set aside for the pentagon, treasury department and disaster relief programs, moves that are sure to be challenged in court. with the wall, they want to be stingy. but we have options that most people don t really understand. all right, so, let s get to cecilia vega. she s live at the white house tonight. and cecilia, there s also word tonight, you were telling us about a possible holdup on this bill to keep the government open, and it involves whether to provide back pay for thousands of government contractors who also lost a month of wages during the shutdown. we know govern
past. and more importantly, i think, at least for me, is achieving border security is the key that unlocks the door to doing other things on immigration he s expressed a willingness to do. the extension of tps, deal with the daca population. i believe he s willing to do something reasonable with people who have been here a long time, unlawfully, but are not criminals. all that is being held up by the inability to get agreement on border security, which the president campaigned on. i hope people separate the tactics from the policy because i think the policy is reasonable and solid. but as you know, the democrats voting for more money in border security in the past, especially in 2013, the immigration reform bill that you helped push, that was in exchange for a lot of other things having to do with undocumented immigrants, having to do with a path to legal status. it wasn t just given out willy nilly. you see there s an opportunity here over the next three weeks to get something done.
is and we re going to stay in syria forever. laura: i want to play for you what donald trump said he was going to do. he gave his big foreign policy speech when he laid out his priority, principled realism. leaders engaged in nation building abroad while they fail to build up and replenish our nation at home. they undercut and shortchanged our men and women in uniform with inadequate resources, unstable funding and unclear missions. laura: david, that s what the president campaigned on. barack obama said something similar. but realism on the ground in afghanistan kicked in, had a mini surge in afghanistan, reluctantly deployed troops in syria. he didn t want to do it at all.
after those who are committing crimes and also gang members as well as those transporting drugs. but look, these i.c.e. members and the border patrol agents, part of the border secure effort, they are executing the president s zero tolerance policy. we heard the president saying there s zero chance i.c.e. will be abolished. this is talk from the far left and the democratic party. that is not going to happen, certainly not under this president s watch. they view if you abolish i.c.e., you re not doing the job this president campaigned on, securing the borders. so ana, is this a smart campaign move or might this backfire? you know, it s not about i.c.e. it s about donald trump. it s about jeff sessions, his mignnutions like the secretary both have been berated in public by trump. i think that s why they bend over backwards and try to do as much as they can to fan the
suajor def by stop the merger of its parent company of cnn. a federal judge rejected that effort which t campaigned on. as an example of the power structure i m fighting, at&t is buying time warner and thus cnn, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few. trump lost but his administration had been targeting cnn in thisght. cnn is terrible. you people do not cover cuss accurately. they have been fake news for a long time. we ve been cover me go in a very, very dishonest way. a poll came out today on cnn, such a fake. our news organization, can you give us a chance? you are attacking our news organization. can you give us a chance. trump aides reportedly wanted to manipulate the regulation of this merger as a point of