President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that a government shutdown "could happen" as soon as Saturday.

"It could happen," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, in response to a reporter's question about the Friday deadline for a spending bill to fund the government.

"The Democrats are really looking at something that could be very dangerous for our country," Trump said. "They are looking at shutting down. They want to have illegal immigrants, in many cases people that we don't want in our country, they want to have illegal immigrants pouring into our country, bringing with them crime, tremendous amounts of crime."