“I think Nancy Pelosi is hurting our country very badly by doing what’s she doing and, ultimately, I think I’ve set the table very nicely," the president said. | Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images White House Trump calls immigration spending talks a ‘waste of time’

The group of congressional lawmakers tasked with coming up with a bipartisan immigration spending deal has met only once, but President Donald Trump on Thursday declared that any further deliberations were a “waste of time” while strongly hinting that he was ready to take executive action to ensure that his border wall with Mexico is built.

“I think [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi is hurting our country very badly by doing what’s she doing and, ultimately, I think I’ve set the table very nicely,” Trump said during a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times that was published Thursday night.


Pelosi earlier Thursday maintained her repeated and explicit refusal to provide the $5.7 billion Trump has requested for a border wall — or, for that matter, any funding. The speaker’s statement comes as a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both houses has been tasked with coming up with a compromise that would avoid another government shutdown. Democrats have not ruled out support for funding some sort of barrier along the border, something Pelosi and other top Democrats have voted for in the past, but many in the party view Trump’s wall as anathema.

The president did not explicitly tell The Times that he would declare a national emergency to help build the wall, but POLITICO has reported that the White House has put renewed focus on such a move and is in the process of making sure a declaration could be made quickly.

“I’ve set the table,” Trump told The Times. “I’ve set the stage for doing what I’m going to do.”