Mexico's president said he clearly told Donald Trump at the start of their meeting Wednesday that Mexicans would not pay for a proposed wall along the U.S. border, directly contradicting the Republican nominee's statement hours earlier while the two men stood about 10 feet from each other.

"At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall," Enrique Peña Nieto tweeted Wednesday night.

Trump, at a joint press conference with Peña Nieto hours before the tweet, had said the meeting between the two men was productive but that the issue of who would pay for Trump's proposed wall never came up.

"We did discuss the wall," Trump said at the news conference. "We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That'll be for a later date."

Hillary Clinton's campaign did not wait to pounce following Peña Nieto's account.



"It turns out Trump didn't just choke," campaign chair John Podesta said in a statement, "he got beat in the room and lied about it." A statement from the Trump campaign did not refute Peña Nieto's assertion about payment for the wall. Nor did the campaign's statement try to explain why Trump clearly said at the news conference that the issue never came up.

The meeting "was not a negotiation, and that would have been inappropriate," said the statement, from Trump's Senior Communications Adviser Jason Miller. "It is unsurprising that they hold two different views on the issue, and we look forward to continuing the conversation."

"The wall" is arguably Trump's signature policy proposal, and he has been brazen in his criticism of current U.S. leaders, who, Trump has said, have not been smart enough to negotiate with Mexico's leaders.

Trump has tried to characterize himself as the opposite — an unflinching dealer, an unshakable authoritarian and a fierce negotiator who won't back down in deliberations with foreign leaders. "Donald Trump has made his outlandish policy of forcing Mexico to pay for his giant wall the centerpiece of his campaign," Podesta, the Clinton campaign chair, said after the press conference.