President Trump said Sunday a program allowing people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children is “probably dead” because Democrats “don’t really want it.”

"[Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] is probably dead because the Democrats don’t really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military,” Trump tweeted.

DACA is probably dead because the Democrats don’t really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018



Trump and congressional Republicans have struggled to make headway in negotiations with congressional Democrats as a government shutdown looms if no spending deal is reached by Jan. 19.

Democrats want to get a deal to allow the 800,000 illegal immigrants covered by the DACA program, which was instituted by President Obama, to stay in the country in the spending deal. Trump has refused to do that unless he gets funding for his wall along the southern border with Mexico in the deal as well.

Trump later tweeted, seemingly alluding to his comment to lawmakers that he didn't see the need for more people from " shithole countries" coming to the U.S., that he wanted immigration based on merit only.

"I, as President, want people coming into our Country who are going to help us become strong and great again, people coming in through a system based on MERIT. No more Lotteries! #AMERICA FIRST," Trump tweeted.

I, as President, want people coming into our Country who are going to help us become strong and great again, people coming in through a system based on MERIT. No more Lotteries! #AMERICA FIRST — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018



Trump earlier lashed out at the Wall Street Journal for misquoting him in a story based on the paper’s interview with Trump last week.

“The Wall Street Journal stated falsely that I said to them ‘I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un’ (of N. Korea). Obviously I didn’t say that. I said ‘I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,’ a big difference,” Trump tweeted.

“Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters and they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!”

The Wall Street Journal stated falsely that I said to them “I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un” (of N. Korea). Obviously I didn’t say that. I said “I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” a big difference. Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018

...and they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018



Audio released by the Journal overnight appears to confirm that Trump said “I’d probably have a good relationship” with Kim, but the paper said in a tweet it was standing by its reporting.