THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think they are moving theirs. If you read one of your competitors today, they will tell you that the Democrats that are starting to say this is not an argument they can win are some of the very young, very smart Democrats that just got elected to Congress. And I don't know if you saw the same story that I did, but they're saying this is not an argument we're going to win.
This is a commonsense argument. Now, if for any reason we don't get this going, and they're not going to act responsibly, and they don't mind death and crime and all of the problems that they cause by not having a barrier, then you will see what happens with national emergency, which I can do very easily. And there's no question it holds up. And it was approved by Congress because the act itself was approved by Congress.
Q But some Republicans are also not really happy with the strategy. Realistically -
THE PRESIDENT: I think Republicans are very happy. I mean, I have two of the most respected senators right behind me. I will tell you, you have - you always have a few that feel a little bit differently. But I think we're unified. We had a great meeting yesterday. We had 53 people, or close to 53 people. And we used to have 51, and we had a couple that were on the difficult side. We have 53 great senators. I think there's great unity. There's a few that feel, "Well, maybe we can it this way or that way." But basically, I think we have far more unity than the Democrats. You saw - you saw the votes.
Q How long do you think the shutdown will last now, realistic -
THE PRESIDENT: What?
Q Realistically, how long do you think the shutdown is now going to last?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know. That, I can't tell you. All I can tell you is that I feel very badly for people that have family members that have been killed. That should have never happened. Okay? Those are the people I'm thinking most about.
Q Mr. President, on the DACA wall, a bigger immigration deal, are you saying you would only consider a broader immigration agreement after you get the wall money?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I would do it simultaneously, but I'd like to see them move fast. The nice part about the wall, or the barrier, is I can have that worked out - in 15 minutes we can start construction. We're already building. But now we would be able to carry the construction through. We actually have a fantastic design that's going to be efficient and fast and really, really work well.
Q If you were to declare a national emergency in the next couple of days, how quickly could construction actually begin on the wall? How fast could the army -
THE PRESIDENT: well, I think very quickly. Perhaps, if I read your newspaper, somebody will sue to stop it. But we would win that suit, I believe, very quickly.
Q Are you prepared for that suit? And what would the defense look like?
THE PRESIDENT: I'm prepared for anything.
Q What if the lawyers -
THE PRESIDENT: I'm prepared for - the lawyers tell me, like, 100 percent. That doesn't stop people from suing, you know. If you look at various things where we got sued, and we end up winning recently in the Supreme Court a couple of times.
Go ahead.
Q Sir, if you're considering a broader immigration package, doesn't that lessen the idea that you would use a national emergency? Are you thinking less about a national emergency?
THE PRESIDENT: No, if came to me with a package beyond the barrier, and if it was something that we all agreed with, that the senators agreed with, that everybody liked - it's common sense; most of this is common sense - I'm all for it.
You have some laws and some codes and some things having to do with immigration that are horrible. I don't care if you're liberal or conservative. They're horrible. And if they want to straighten things out and do something with catch and release, which, as you know, is one of the great disasters in immigration of all time. You catch them and then you release them. What kind of stuff is this? If they want to do something with that, it would be all right.
Phil.
Q And, Mr. President, back in Washington, there's some big news about Michael Cohen. He's agreed to testify before the House Democrats next month. What do you think of that? Are you worried about what he might say?
THE PRESIDENT: I'm not worried about it at all. No.
Go ahead.
Q Mr. President, when that rancher talked about his concerns that he's heard about eminent domain, it struck you. Can you tell us how and why, and what you intend to do about it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it did strike me. And when I look at him and I look at the family, and I see - but you know, eminent domain is one of those things - and he's actually in favor of it; he wants to do something about it. You know, when you talk about that, you're talking about the fact that he wants to do something about it. He wants to see a wall. There's an example of somebody that's affected, from the standpoint of land, but he wants to see a wall.
So we're going to get this straightened out, hopefully. Hopefully, the Democrats are going to come to their senses, they're going to realize that they don't want people killed, they don't want crime. They want to end it. And that's going to happen.
Go ahead.
Q Mr. President, what are you going to do to stop the (inaudible) caravan that's coming over?
THE PRESIDENT: A caravan is forming right now in Honduras. It's supposed to be bigger than the other caravans. We will handle that as it comes up. If we had a wall, we wouldn't have any problems. But we don't, so we will handle it.
Okay, thank you all very much.
Q Mr. President, any message to the federal workers who won't get paid tomorrow?
THE PRESIDENT: I'm very concerned about people that are being badly injured and killed and family members. And I'm looking - and you know what: A lot of the people that we're talking about in terms of pay, they agree with me. Many of the people that we're talking about, they agree with me. Thank you all very much.
