WASHINGTON — The Oval Office meeting this past March began, as so many had, with President Trump fuming about migrants. Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. “The president wanted it to be fixed quickly.”

Source: New York Times October 01, 2019 21:48 UTC