White House sends mixed signals on border wall funding

Jeremy Diamond Jim Acosta Jeff Zeleny
By Jeremy Diamond, Jim Acosta and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 1:42 PM EDT, Tue April 25, 2017
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 21: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump (L) listens as Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin delivers remarks in the US Treasury Department building on April 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump is making his first visit to the Treasury Department for a memorandum signing ceremony with Secretary Mnuchin. (Photo by Shawn Thew - Pool/Getty Images)
Pool/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 21: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump (L) listens as Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin delivers remarks in the US Treasury Department building on April 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump is making his first visit to the Treasury Department for a memorandum signing ceremony with Secretary Mnuchin. (Photo by Shawn Thew - Pool/Getty Images)
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Story highlights

Congress returns this week

Lawmakers will have to cope with how to fund the government

(CNN) —  

To fund a wall, or not to fund a wall? That is the question President Donald Trump and White House officials can’t seem to answer clearly.

After Trump told a group of conservative reporters Monday evening that he wasn’t fixated on getting funding for his border wall in the current budget negotiations, White House officials insisted Tuesday that Trump was not backing down on securing funding for the border wall in the FY 2017 budget that must get through Congress on Friday to avoid a government shutdown.

“It’s not off the table,” White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said. “We’re not pushing anything to FY ‘18.”

President-elect Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From developing real estate and producing and starring in TV shows, he became a celebrity long before winning the White House.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: exclusive photo by nigel parry for CNN
President-elect Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From developing real estate and producing and starring in TV shows, he became a celebrity long before winning the White House.
Trump at age 4. He was born in 1946 to Fred and Mary Trump in New York City. His father was a real estate developer.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Trump at age 4. He was born in 1946 to Fred and Mary Trump in New York City. His father was a real estate developer.
Trump, left, in a family photo. He was the second-youngest of five children.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Trump, left, in a family photo. He was the second-youngest of five children.
Trump, center, stands at attention during his senior year at the New York Military Academy in 1964.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library
Trump, center, stands at attention during his senior year at the New York Military Academy in 1964.
Trump, center, wears a baseball uniform at the New York Military Academy in 1964. After he graduated from the boarding school, he went to college. He started at Fordham University before transferring and later graduating from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania's business school.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library
Trump, center, wears a baseball uniform at the New York Military Academy in 1964. After he graduated from the boarding school, he went to college. He started at Fordham University before transferring and later graduating from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania's business school.
Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating college in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating college in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City.
Trump attends an event to mark the start of construction of the New York Convention Center in 1979.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images
Trump attends an event to mark the start of construction of the New York Convention Center in 1979.
Trump wears a hard hat at the Trump Tower construction site in New York in 1980.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Ted Horowitz/Getty Images
Trump wears a hard hat at the Trump Tower construction site in New York in 1980.
Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977 to 1990, when they divorced. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: SWERZEY/AFP/Getty Images
Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977 to 1990, when they divorced. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
The Trump family, circa 1986.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Norman Parkinson Archive/Corbis/Getty Images
The Trump family, circa 1986.
Trump uses his personal helicopter to get around New York in 1987.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Joe McNally/Getty Images
Trump uses his personal helicopter to get around New York in 1987.
Trump stands in the atrium of the Trump Tower.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Ted Thai/Getty Images
Trump stands in the atrium of the Trump Tower.
Trump attends the opening of his new Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1989.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Leif Skoogfors/Getty Images
Trump attends the opening of his new Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1989.
Trump signs his second book, "Trump: Surviving at the Top," in 1990. Trump has published at least 16 other books, including "The Art of the Deal" and "The America We Deserve."
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Trump signs his second book, "Trump: Surviving at the Top," in 1990. Trump has published at least 16 other books, including "The Art of the Deal" and "The America We Deserve."
Trump and singer Michael Jackson pose for a photo before traveling to visit Ryan White, a young child with AIDS, in 1990.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Donna Connor/Getty Images
Trump and singer Michael Jackson pose for a photo before traveling to visit Ryan White, a young child with AIDS, in 1990.
Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999 and had one daughter together, Tiffany.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images
Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999 and had one daughter together, Tiffany.
Trump putts a golf ball in his New York office in 1998.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Simon Bruty/Getty Images
Trump putts a golf ball in his New York office in 1998.
An advertisement for the television show "The Apprentice" hangs at Trump Tower in 2004. The show launched in January of that year. In January 2008, the show returned as "Celebrity Apprentice."
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Getty Images
An advertisement for the television show "The Apprentice" hangs at Trump Tower in 2004. The show launched in January of that year. In January 2008, the show returned as "Celebrity Apprentice."
A 12-inch talking Trump doll is on display at a toy store in New York in September 2004.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Getty Images
A 12-inch talking Trump doll is on display at a toy store in New York in September 2004.
Trump attends a news conference in 2005 that announced the establishment of Trump University. From 2005 until it closed in 2010, Trump University had about 10,000 people sign up for a program that promised success in real estate. Three separate lawsuits -- two class-action suits filed in California and one filed by New York's attorney general -- argued that the program was mired in fraud and deception. Trump's camp rejected the suits' claims as "baseless." And Trump has charged that the New York case against him is politically motivated.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
PHOTO: Bebeto Matthews/AP
Trump attends a news conference in 2005 that announced the establishment of Trump University. From 2005 until it closed in 2010, Trump University had about 10,000 people sign up for a program that promised success in real estate. Three separate lawsuits -- two class-action suits filed in California and one filed by New York's attorney general -- argued that the program was mired in fraud and deception. Trump's camp rejected the suits' claims as "baseless." And Trump has charged that the New York case against him is politically motivated.
Trump attends the U.S. Open tennis tournament with his third wife, Melania Knauss-Trump, and their son, Barron, in 2006. Trump and Knauss married in 2005.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise