Trump rips private Texas border wall built by his supporters

President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized a privately built border wall in South Texas that’s showing signs of erosion months after going up, saying it was “only done to make me look b,” even though wall was built after a months-long campaign by his supporters.

group that raised money online for wall promoted itself as supporting Trump during a government shutdown that started in December 2018 because Congress wouldn’t fund Trump’s demands for a border wall. Called “We Build Wall,” group has raised more than $25 million promoting itself as supporting president.

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bann joined group’s board and Trump ally Kris Kobach became its general counsel. Kobach is w seeking Republican mination for U.S. Senate in Kansas. company that built private section in January, rth Dakota-based Fisher Industries, has since won a $1.3 billion border wall contract from federal government, largest award to date.

section in question is a roughly 3-mile (5-kilometer) fence of steel posts just 35 feet (10 meters) from Rio Grande, river that forms U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. That’s much closer to river than government ordinarily builds border barriers in South Texas because of concerns about erosion and flooding that could violate U.S. treaty obligations with Mexico. Experts and people who live and work near property have warned that building so close to river would cause flooding or a break in fence.

Trump tweeted Sunday in response to a ProPublica-Texas Tribune report that riverbank has started to erode. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered attorneys for Fisher Industries and opponents of private wall to set a schedule for experts to visit site and inspect any erosion.

“I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by s,” Trump wrote. “It was only done to make me look b, and perhsps it w doesn’t even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles.”Tommy Fisher, CEO of Fisher Industries, said Sunday that he thought president “just got some misinformation on this stuff” and that he h “complete respect” for Trump.

Fisher ackwledged that re h been some erosion on land in front of fencing caused by rain and natural flow of river. He said his crews planned to install more organic material to fill gaps or insert rock if erosion continues, but that or parts of wall remained untouched. “ wall will stand for 150 years, you mark my words,” Fisher said. 

Originally promoted by We Build Wall, private section inste became a showcase for Fisher, who has promoted his company heavily on Fox News and conservative media. We Build Wall ultimately provided about $1.5 million for project and Kobach said in a previous court hearing that his group was mostly providing “social media cheerleing.” We Build Wall’s founder, Brian Kolf, did t return a phone mess Sunday.

In May, Fisher Industries won a $1.3 billion contract to build 42 miles (68 kilometers) of wall in Arizona. wall will be painted black because “that’s what president wanted, plain and simple,” said U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a rth Dakota Republican, in May. Cramer said n that he personally pitched company to Trump. Ar $400 million contract Fisher won last year was placed under review by defense department’s inspector general.