Trump moves to halt Biden's 'potentially criminal' sale of border wall materials

President-elect Donald Trump filed an amicus brief Thursday evening over the Biden administration's "potentially criminal" sale of border wall materials.

Trump's amicus brief supports a motion filed Tuesday by Texas and Missouri, requesting a status conference to determine whether the Biden administration breached the court's permanent injunction. That injunction prohibited using taxpayer funds designated for border wall construction for any other purposes.

'At the very least, the reported conduct raises troubling concerns of potentially criminal behavior.'

After Biden halted the construction of Trump's border wall in January 2021, the administration began quietly selling the materials in 2023.

A defense official previously told Fox News that the unused materials had first been offered to "authorized recipients, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the states of Texas and California."

"The remaining 40% was sold to GovPlanet under a competitive sales contract process beginning in June 2024," the official stated. "The material currently being sold through GovPlanet online auctions no longer belongs to the U.S. Government, and DOD has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of material it no longer owns."

On Thursday, Trump filed the amicus brief calling for the Biden administration to "immediately" stop the auctions.

"The Court should issue an order directing the Defendants to immediately stop any ongoing sale of border-barrier materials to private parties pending the Court's review of Defendant's conduct, and the Court should swiftly conduct a searching examination of the Government's conduct, by formal discovery if necessary, to examine the Government's compliance with the law, the Constitution, and the Court's injunction," the court filing read.

Trump claimed that if the administration is "deliberately selling off border-wall materials at a major financial loss to the Government to obstruct the pro-wall policy of Congress and President Trump, such conduct likely constitutes a criminal act, such as a conspiracy to defraud the United States."

"At the very least, the reported conduct raises troubling concerns of potentially criminal behavior," it read.

Trump has stated that he plans to restart construction on the southern border once he is back in office.

He stated on Monday, "They [the Biden administration] know we're going to use it, and if we don't have it, we're going to have to rebuild it. And it'll cost double what it cost years ago, and that's hundreds of millions of dollars because you're talking about a lot of, a lot of wall."

Texas officials have pledged to help Trump with border security in any way they can.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) committed to purchasing the auctioned border wall materials to return them to Trump.

"If there's any decent panels available anywhere, we'll buy them and we'll give them to President Trump when he comes in," he told Fox News on Monday.

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, who also joined the Texas and Missouri's motion this week, vowed to provide Patrick with land to store the border wall materials until Trump's return.

"If you buy it, I have a place to store it — on state land! The [Texas General Land Office] is standing by to help!" Buckingham said.

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