Trump criticizes Biden administration for selling border wall materials at a loss

During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump renewed his criticisms of the Biden administration for selling off border wall materials at a significant loss. He accused the administration of either hating the country or being incompetent.

Trump specifically criticized the private company managing the border wall sales for attempting to sell the materials back to his incoming administration at a significant upcharge. He claimed the company offered to sell the materials at double the price the government originally paid for them.

The Biden administration has been auctioning off border wall parts since at least 2023, after abruptly shutting down most border wall construction in 2021. An official at the Department of Defense told Fox News Digital that the materials being sold through online auctions were already sold off by the federal government earlier in 2024, with a large percentage of the materials being sold to a government surplus retailer called Gov Planet.

Following a lawsuit by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Biden administration agreed to a court order to stop further wall material sales.

Trump argued that the Biden administration's border wall sales were "almost a criminal act" that would cost American taxpayers "hundreds of millions of dollars." He also criticized the administration for trying to resell the materials back to his administration at a significant markup.

"These people either hate our country or they're very stupid," Trump said of the Biden administration. "They were selling the wall for five cents on the dollar and trying to resell it back to us for 200 cents, or less, but for 200 cents on the dollar."

He concluded by saying that the deal was "like all the other things that these people do.