No end to govt shutdown until border wall funded: Donald Trump

On December 3, while on one of his any Twitter tirades, this one against former attorney Michael Cohen, Trump tweeted, ‘“Michael Cohen asks judge for no Prison Time.” You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not serve a long prison term? He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get.....his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free.” #ScottFree got a life of its own on the microblogging site. (Image: Reuters)

US President Donald Trump ruled out an end to the partial government shutdown till the Congress approve funds for building a wall along the Mexican border to prevent entry of illegal immigrants.

Democrats and some Republicans have rejected Trump's demand for the US-Mexico border, following which on last week he refused to sign a wider spending bill, temporarily stripping funding from swaths of the government.

"I can't tell you when the government is going to reopen…(Not until) we have a wall, a fence, whatever they would like to call it. I'll call it whatever they want. But it's all the same thing. It's a barrier from people pouring into our country…a barrier from drugs," Trump told reporters in his Oval office.

"There is a problem in this world today called human trafficking…We are not going to let that take place. We are working so hard to catch these traffickers...We can't do it without a barrier...without a wall. It's my hope to have this done, completed — all 500 to 550 miles — to have it either renovated or brand new by election time," he said.

The Trump administration is seeking more than USD 5 billion for the construction of the border wall.

He said progress has been made in building a wall in some places, including, in California, which has been "difficult to deal with because of the governor".