Jim Young/Reuters
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that President Trump is ready to use executive power or shut down the government again if Congress refuses to fund a border wall. “He is willing to do whatever it takes to secure the border,” Mulvaney said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, adding that Trump would stick to his demand for $5.7 billion. “The end of the day, the president’s commitment is to defend the nation, and he’ll do it either with or without Congress.” The clash over border wall funding sparked a 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, leaving some 800,000 federal employees working without pay or furloughed. Trump announced on Friday that he and Congress brokered a deal to end the shutdown for three weeks—but he also threatened to shut down the government again or use executive authority to get funding for the wall if Congress doesn’t agree to it by Feb. 15.