Trump to address nation on ‘border crisis’ in prime time speech

President Donald Trump has just announced via Twitter he plans to deliver a prime-time address Tuesday night on what he calls a border ‘crisis’ amid ongoing shutdown fight.

The address will be at 9 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Mountain time.

Trump’s prime-time address will come amid a partial government shutdown caused by his insistence that Congress give him more than $5 billion to build a wall on the border. Congressional Democrats are refusing to pay for a wall.

With no breakthrough in sight to end the partial government shutdown, Trump is also planning to visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday to highlight his demands for a border wall.

Newly empowered House Democrats plan to step up pressure on Trump and Republican lawmakers to reopen the government.

Trump maintains that more than $5 billion for a wall is necessary to secure the border. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted Monday that Trump will use the visit to “meet with those on the front lines of the national security and humanitarian crisis.”