New bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing is seen next to vehicle barriers in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, March 5, 2019.

President Donald Trump has told his officials to take new measures in a redoubled effort to build his long-promised border wall before the 2020 election — and has assured that he will issue pardons if his aides have to break laws to get the project done, according to The Washington Post.

Current and former officials involved in the project told the newspaper that Trump has directed his aides to seize private land along the U.S.-Mexico border, ignore environmental regulations and quickly approve billions of dollars' worth of construction contracts.

Trump denied the report in a tweet Wednesday, calling the report "another totally Fake story in the Amazon Washington Post." Trump has frequently criticized the Post by linking its coverage to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who bought the newspaper in 2013.

"This was made up by the Washington Post only in order to demean and disparage - FAKE NEWS!" Trump tweeted.

Trump TWEET

An anonymous White House official, however, did tell the newspaper that Trump made those statements about pardons — but that he was just joking when he said such things.

Earlier, Trump claimed on Twitter that "The Wall is going up very fast, despite total Obstruction by Democrats in Congress, and elsewhere!"

Trump TWEET

Trump's promise to build a "big, beautiful wall" along America's southern border was a defining feature of his 2016 presidential campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. He repeatedly claimed that Mexico would pay for the entire infrastructure project, and maintained that stance as president — even as he allowed the government to shut down in December after Democrats pushed back on a $5.7 billion proposal to fund it.