Trump blames his border wall falling over on 'big winds' and claims it's fixed 'forever'

President claims his wall fell because 'the concrete foundation was just poured [and] soaking wet when big winds kicked in'
Chris Riotta New York @chrisriotta


Donald Trump has blamed reports about a section of his border wall falling over on the “Fake News”, claiming in a tweet the wall fell due to “big winds” and had since been fixed “forever”.

“Last week the Fake News said that a section of our powerful, under construction, Southern Border Wall ‘fell over’”, the president wrote.

He went on to say that the media was “trying to make it sound terrible”, but “the reason was that the concrete foundation was just poured & soaking wet when big winds kicked in”.

The president also claimed the section of his long-promised border wall was “quickly fixed ‘forever’” after the incident.

While Mr Trump did not indicate what region of the wall he was referring to on Sunday, a newly-installed panel of the US border wall in California fell over due to high winds in late January.

Videos posted online showed the wall, which had recently been installed with a concrete foundation, leaning on trees on the Mexican side of the border.

Winds in the area were as high as 37mph (60kph) during the incident, according to the National Weather Service.

Carlos Pitones, a US Customs and Border Protection agent, confirmed to CNN that the concrete had not yet cured when the metal panels fell.

He added: “We are grateful there was no property damage or injuries.”

Heriberto Reyes, a journalist in the Mexicali region, also told the Associated Press: “They averted a tragedy, in my opinion.”

He noted how the trees had blocked the wall from crashing down onto a Mexican road that runs parallel to the US border wall.

Mr Trump has sought to fulfil his campaign promise despite continued legal and funding challenges, pushing for 450 miles (2,070 kilometres) of new walling to be added along the US-Mexico border by next year.