PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP reasserted a directive Wednesday – that the Pentagon quietly dismissed last week – that the military will assume responsibility for building a wall along the southern U.S. border. 

Trump's announcement follows reports that the president withdrew his demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall amid a lack of support in Congress as lawmakers seek a funding compromise that will keep the government open. Trump also repeated claims that a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico will generate revenue that will fulfill his campaign promise of forcing America's southern neighbor to pay for the wall.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders indicated Tuesday that the administration was looking for other elements of the government that could fulfill one of the president's signature campaign promises. 

"Mexico is paying (indirectly) for the Wall through the new USMCA, the replacement for NAFTA!" Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement that he has rebranded as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. "Far more money coming to the U.S. Because of the tremendous dangers at the Border, including large scale criminal and drug inflow, the United States Military will build the Wall!"