Donald Trump denies Mexico wall plans have changed after John Kelly said president was not ‘fully informed’ on campaign pledge 

Donald Trump has publicly contradicted his own chief of staff over the Mexican border wall as tensions frayed ahead of an impending government shutdown. 

The US president disputed John Kelly’s claims that his views on the barrier had “evolved” and that he was not “fully informed” during the election campaign. 

Mr Kelly’s comments, made behind closed doors but confirmed in a Fox News interview, came as Republicans attempted to broker a deal to keep the government funded. 

Democrats want protections for “dreamer” migrants who came to America illegally while children, but Republicans want money for border security including the wall. 

The deadline is midnight on Friday. Failure to agree a deal will trigger a government shutdown, meaning staff at non-essential government programmes cannot work. 

The stand-off has escalated splits within the Republican Party and seen Mr Trump criticised for refusing to make his stance on key immigration issues clear. 

The president s facing the political challenge of following through on hardline immigration promises while also needing Democratic votes to approve future spending. 

In a bid to break the impasse, Mr Kelly talked to a group of Democrats – the congressional Hispanic caucus – to hear their demands.  

Leaked comments from the meeting appeared to reveal Mr Kelly taking a more moderate stance on immigration than Mr Trump had before the election. 

Mr Kelly reportedly said a wall would not be built along the entire Mexican border, admitted Mexico would not directly pay for it and called Mr Trump “uniformed” during the campaign.

Click Here: camiseta seleccion argentina

Numerous US media outlets cited the comments.  Mr Kelly did little to challenge the reports in a later interview with Fox News, saying that Mr Trump was not “fully informed” on the border wall during the campaign. 

He said Mr Trump’s thinking had "evolved" since taking office and added there are parts of the border where a physical wall would not work, such as mountainous areas. 

Writing on Twitter, Mr Trump contradicted the suggestion his thinking had changed amid claims he had been angered by the remarks. 

The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

….The Wall will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico, which has a ridiculous $71 billion dollar trade surplus with the U.S. The $20 billion dollar Wall is “peanuts” compared to what Mexico makes from the U.S. NAFTA is a bad joke!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

The spat is not the first time Mr Trump has clashed with colleagues in public. Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, and Steve Bannon, a former adviser, have all been previous targets. 

However it reflects tensions between Mr Kelly, a retired four-star general handed the job to bring order to the White House last summer, and the president. 

There have been reports that Mr Trump can grow frustrated at Mr Kelly’s fatherly tone, which is sometimes perceived as patronising. 

On Thursday, Mr Trump undermined his own party’s attempts to secure a deal to avoid a government shutdown. 

On Twitter he appeared to criticise the extension of a children’s health insurance programme, which was being used to convince Democrats to give their support. 

Friday’s midnight deadline could be pushed back if Republicans and Democrats agree a temporary delay – something that happened just before Christmas. 

Mr Trump tweeted: "A government shutdown will be devastating to our military…something the Dems care very little about!"