President Donald Trump on Thursday went off into an angry rant with reporters in which he insisted that Mexico was paying for his proposed border wall “indirectly.”

During a question-and-answer session with reporters, Trump claimed that he had never once suggested that Mexico would pay for the wall by writing a check to the United States government.

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“I know the fake news likes to say it, when during the campaign I would say Mexico is going to pay for it, obviously… I never meant they are going to write out a check,” the president fumed. “I said they are going to pay for it. They are. They are paying for it with the incredible deal we made between United States, Mexico and Canada. It’s a trade deal.”

However, the president did say during the 2016 campaign that he had a plan to force Mexico to make “a one-time payment of $5 to $10 billion” to fund the border wall, as reported by CNN’s Jeremy Diamond.

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