Carlos Jasso/Reuters
The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s reported suggestion to the Mexican president that the U.S. would send troops to control the “bad hombres down there” was “lighthearted.” According to the Associated Press, which obtained an excerpt from the phone call, Trump told Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto: “You have a bunch of bad hombres down there. You aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of it.” Mexico’s foreign-relations bureau told the AP that the “negative statements” it reported “did not occur during said telephone call. On the contrary, the tone was constructive.” Last week, it was reported that Peña Nieto canceled a meeting with Trump in Washington over Trump’s repeated declaration that Mexico would pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico southern border.