Trump Calls Biden’s Border Wall Sale ‘Nearly Criminal,’ Plans to Pursue Restraining Order

President-elect Donald Trump criticized the Biden administration for selling off sections of the border wall, calling the move “almost a criminal act” and announcing plans to seek a restraining order.

Trump’s remarks followed a Daily Wire investigation that uncovered the administration’s efforts to auction off parts of the border wall, allegedly aiming to dispose of the materials before Trump assumes office in January. A Republican senator highlighted that the auctions were recovering only 0.2% of the wall’s original cost to taxpayers.

“The administration is trying to sell it for five cents on the dollar knowing that we’re getting ready to put it up,” Trump said in a press conference. “What they’re doing … It’s almost a criminal act. They know that we’re going to use it and if we don’t have it we’re going to have to rebuild it and it will cost double what it cost years ago and that’s hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“I spoke with the Attorney General of Texas, I spoke with the Senators of Texas, I spoke to a lot of people and hopefully they’ll be able to stop it. We’re going to be having a restraining order,” Trump added. “I am asking Joe Biden today to please stop selling the wall.”

President Trump on the Biden administration selling off sections of his border wall: “Now it’s about double the price of what it would’ve been six years ago, and the administration is trying to sell it for five cents on the dollar… It’s almost a criminal act.”

He noted that some buyers had already acquired sections of the border wall for as little as three cents on the dollar, only to later offer to sell them back to the Trump administration at hundreds of dollars per foot.

“That has nothing to do with a smooth transition that has to do with people really trying to stop our nation. And all it means really is that we’re going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more, not even talking about the time,” the president-elect went on to say. “We’ll spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on building the same wall that we already have.”

Trump’s remarks follow a letter from Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, urging an immediate halt to the auctioning of the border wall.

“While recouping less than 0.02% of taxpayer money used to secure these materials, the Biden Administration is sabotaging the incoming Trump Administration just weeks ahead of President Trump’s inauguration,” the Senator wrote. “These border wall materials will cost tens of thousands of U.S. taxpayer dollars to replace and will be critical to stem the record flow of millions of illegal immigrants who were welcomed across our border during the Biden Administration.”