WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump appeared to back away from threats to shut down parts of the federal government over his demands for money for his border wall, as his press secretary indicated Tuesday that the administration aimed to keep the government open.
Trump, who has been demanding $5 billion in additional wall funding from Congress, said last week during a meeting with Democratic leaders that he would be "proud" to shut down the government if his demand wasn't met.
In an interview with Fox News, however, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that a shutdown was not the president's only option.
"We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion," she said.
The comments came just four days before funds for large portions of the federal government are due to run out.
"At the end of the day, we don't want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border," Sanders said, adding that the White House believes it has other options for securing wall money rather than seeking an appropriation from Congress.
"There are certainly a number of different funding sources that we've identified that we can use, that we can couple with money that would be given through congressional appropriations that would help us get to that $5 billion that the president needs in order to protect our border," she said, without specifying what those were.
