Solar panels will pay for my wall, says Trump

DONALD Trump has come up with a new twist on his plan to build a wall along America’s border with Mexico – he wants to fix solar panels to it.

In a bid to take the heat out of his row with Mexico over who pays for the controversial wall, Mr Trump said last night it would ‘create energy and pay for itself’.

The President boasted that he came up with the plan himself. ‘Pretty good imagination, right? My idea,’ he told supporters at a campaign-style rally in Iowa.

Mr Trump teased the partisan crowd by promising he would ‘give you an idea that nobody has heard about yet’.

‘We’re thinking of something that’s unique, we’re talking about the southern border, lots of sun, lots of heat. We’re thinking about building the wall as a solar wall, so it creates energy and pays for itself.

‘And this way, Mexico will have to pay much less money, and that’s good, right?’

He added: ‘Solar wall, panels, beautiful. I mean, actually think of it, the higher it goes the more valuable it is.’

The President has consistently claimed that Mexico will pay for the wall, even though his Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto, has rejected the idea.

Mr Trump admitted last night he has no secret Oval Office audio tapes to clear up his row with ex-FBI boss James Comey. Mr Trump denies ever asking Mr Comey to stop investigating ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn over links with Russia. Yesterday Mr Trump tweeted: ‘I did not make, and do not have, such recordings.’