Saturday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s News HQ,” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) defended the deal President Donald Trump had announced to reopen the federal government on Friday.

Gohmert told host Kristin Fisher the deal was not a cave to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R-CA), but instead the first round of many in the battle over border wall funding.

“No, I don’t think that he’s caved to Speaker Pelosi,” Gohmert said. “This is round one of a, you know, 12-round bout, maybe 15. So — and this is a very strategic move on the president’s part. I was visiting him at the White House on Wednesday, and I know what he is doing. This is a good move on his part. He has not capitulated on the wall. The problem is when you’re dealing with leaders in a party who are more concerned with political victories than they are about protecting the country, then you really have a tough time. Then when you’ve got a Senate that has people that got elected to do nothing as Republicans except make Trump’s life miserable, it’s a tough area to navigate.”

“Well, you can say it’s a blink, but the truth is, this comes back on February 15 and also the truth is, we have an invasion on our southern border, and I’m getting tired of the liberals saying, hey, the numbers were down last year. Either they’re ignorant of the real facts, or they’re intentionally misleading the American people. The numbers were down overall last year but in the last quarter, as they saw the Democrats may take over the House, as they took over the House, the numbers have skyrocketed and that’s what the Border Patrol has said. So, we’ve got to do something. The president is not done yet.”

When asked about previous comments he had made suggesting Trump should have kept the government closed until “hell freezes over,” Gohmert said he would have preferred Trump stuck to his gun, but called this continuing resolution a “recess.”

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