Wikimedia Commons / U.S. White House
President Donald Trump reviews U.S. Customs and Border Protection's wall prototypes in Otay Mesa, California.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted that a reportedly flawed section of his South Texas border wall shouldn't have been built by a private company and that the project was intended to embarrass him.
"I disagreed ;with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads," Trump tweeted. "It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps [sic] it now doesn’t even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles."
I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps it now doesn’t even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles. https://t.co/L8RUPCAhqc
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2020
ProPublica and the Texas Tribune last week reported that the portion of the wall along the Rio Grande showed signs of erosion just months after being finished. Trump supporter Tommy Fisher's North Dakota-based Fisher Industries constructed the $42 million segment, which he dubbed a “Lamborghini” of walls.
Experts told the news organizations that troubling evidence of erosion under the three-mile structure suggests that it could fall into the river without repair work.
A subsequent story published Sunday by ProPublica and the Tribune pointed out that despite Trump's tweeted complaint about Fisher, the White House granted the supporter's company a $1.7 billion contract to build more sections of wall.
Fisher Industries pulled in the deal "despite a lawsuit around the South Texas project and an ongoing audit by the Pentagon’s inspector general of a previous border wall contract that is looking into possible 'inappropriate influence,'" according to the report.
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