Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said it would be “surprising to me” if he did not make an emergency declaration if talks with Democrats fail.

“If this doesn't work out, probably I will do it. I would almost say definitely,” Trump said.

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Trump asserted that he has “the absolute right to declare a national emergency,” even though some legal scholars and Democrats say he lacks the power to do so.

But the president said his preference is still to work out a deal with Congress for wall funding.

The failure of the talks raised the likelihood that Trump will act on his own to build the wall, which is one of his biggest unfulfilled campaign promises.

The president also angrily denied Schumer’s claim that he slammed the table before getting up and leaving Wednesday’s negotiating session in the White House Situation Room.

“I didn’t pound the table. I didn’t pound the table. That is a lie,” he said. “I don’t have temper tantrums.”

Trump’s comments raised the question of if or how negotiations can move forward to end the shutdown, which started Dec. 22 and is affecting about 25 percent of the federal government.

The president is traveling on Thursday to the border town of McAllen, Texas, where he plans to press his case that a wall is the only thing that can stop what he says is a “crisis” of drug smuggling and illegal immigration at the southern border.

Some in Washington believe the trip is a chance for Trump to lay the groundwork for a national emergency declaration.

“I’m not prepared to do that yet, but if I have to, I will,” the president said of the emergency declaration.

Updated at 10:31 a.m.