White House press secretary Sarah Sanders argued with a CNN anchor Friday morning about the ongoing government shutdown, saying Democrats are to blame, not President Donald Trump.
Sanders was speaking with CNN's John Berman when the host accused Trump of causing the shutdown that has lasted five weeks.
"He chose this path, he chose this," said Berman, who then referenced spending bills passed by the House and Senate in December, which were both rejected by Trump before they landed on his desk.
"John, unlike the Democrats in Congress, the president has chosen to fulfill his constitutional duty, his No. 1 priority as commander in chief, which is to protect the American people," Sanders replied. "We have human trafficking. We have a crisis at the border of drugs coming into our country."
The shutdown began Dec. 22 after lawmakers could not agree on funding for a border wall. Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are now deadlocked, with Pelosi saying she will not allocate any money for a wall — which Trump has since changed to a steel fence.
On Friday, Berman contended that the border wall is the reason for the shutdown. Sanders said the entire border security situation is the reason.
"Look, John, I don't know how many times I can explain that you can't fix part of the problem and expect it to go away," Sanders replied. "You have to fix the entire problem, or it doesn't make any difference."
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