President plans prime-time address, border visit in bid to mobilize public opinion in shutdown standoff
The White House is stepping up its efforts to sway public opinion in favor of President Trump’s border wall as it seeks to blunt the impact of the partial government shutdown, now stretching into its third week.
Mr. Trump will deliver a prime-time address and travel to the U.S. border with Mexico this week to make his case—while also working privately with advisers to find a way out of the shutdown without losing face.
On Monday, in an effort to ease one of the shutdown’s biggest potential sources of pain for Americans, the Trump administration said the Internal Revenue Service would pay tax refunds even though the agency is closed, reversing a longstanding policy to not issue refunds during a shutdown.
Meanwhile, the White House is seeking to rally support for a border wall to buy time as negotiations with Congress continue. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump will deliver an address on border security at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The address will be delivered from the Oval Office and is expected to last seven to eight minutes, according to a White House official.
Mr. Trump and his staff were still deliberating whether to declare a national emergency, said one senior White House official involved in crafting the address.
“The president has many options on the table,” the official said. “He’s going to do what he think is best to solve the humanitarian crisis on the southern border.”
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