Trump calls for end to border wall auctions: ‘Almost criminal act’
President-elect Donald Trump blasted the Biden administration for selling off unused border wall materials at a discounted rate, which he called "almost a criminal act."
Trump said the auctions would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to re-purchase the large steel bollards and concrete. He called on President Biden to "please stop selling the wall" and suggested his team would obtain a restraining order to halt the sales.
The president-elect also said he is working with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Texas leaders to re-acquire the materials.
"What they're doing is really an act, it's almost a criminal act," he said. "They know we're going to use it and if we don't have it, we're going to have to rebuild it, and it'll cost double what it cost years ago, and that's hundreds of millions of dollars because you're talking about a lot of, a lot of wall."
ON CLEARANCE: WHY IS THE BIDEN ADMIN SELLING OFF BORDER WALL MATERIAL?
This comes a week after videos released by the Daily Wire showed large portions of border wall materials being carted off from the border to be sold at auction. The Daily Wire reported that a whistleblower at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection claimed the administration’s goal was to sell off all the unused border wall materials along three stations of Arizona’s border with Mexico in Tucson, Nogales and Three Points by Christmas.
A representative for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Fox News Digital that construction and management of the border wall is handled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
An official at the Department of Defense told Fox News Digital that the materials currently being sold through online auctions were already sold off by the federal government earlier this year, with a large percentage of the materials being sold to a government surplus retailer called Gov Planet.
The Defense official said the materials no longer belong to the U.S. government, and the Defense Department has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of it.
TOM COTTON DEMANDS DOD RECORDS ON BORDER-WALL MATERIAL SALES BE PRESERVED
Meanwhile, a local leader for Yuma County, which is on the far western side of Arizona, further confirmed with Fox News Digital that the Biden administration’s sales of unused border materials have continued at a regular pace since beginning in 2021.
Jonathan Lines, a Yuma County supervisor, told Fox News Digital that the equipment dealer Iron Planet has been partnering with the federal government to sell the materials over the last three years. He explained that though auctions for the pieces start at $5, they typically end up being sold for between $8,000 and $10,000.
Despite this, Lines pushed back on reports that the Biden administration is increasing its sales of border wall materials in attempts to get rid of the materials before the Trump inauguration, calling these "sensationalism."
"They sell it consistently, every week or every other week there are sections of the wall that go up for sale," he explained.
TEXAS SHERIFF FRUSTRATED WITH BIDEN ADMIN FOR SELLING BORDER WALL PARTS
Border wall materials were listed by Gov Planet last week at $5 as the minimum opening bid for 20 tons of steel bollards on an online auction site that advertised multiple lots.
Trump, who has made government efficiency a top priority for his second administration, took particular issue with the financial waste of the auctions.
"The people that are buying it or trying to buy it are trying to make a deal with us to sell it back at hundreds of times more, hundreds of times more than we paid," he said. "Just think about how ridiculous it is, and this is just people that don't want this country to succeed. And this has nothing to do with Democrat or Republican, this has to do with common sense. We won on common sense, and this is maybe one of the most egregious examples I've seen."
"So, I'm asking today, Joe Biden, to please stop selling the wall," he went on. "It's something that people can't even believe is happening. So, hopefully, Joe will be able to stop it."