Wall Complex: President Trump tweeted last that he’ll be getting $23 billion for border security even though a joint committee of legislators agreed on less than $1.5 billion.

  Trump wrote, “Looking over all aspects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources. Will be getting almost $23 BILLION for Border Security. Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!”

  Where he plans to get the money, he didn’t say.

  Earlier Trump said he’s not happy with the border protection deal reached by Democratic and Republican legislators but appears likely to sign it. 

  “Am I happy at first glance?” he said to reporters at the beginning of a cabinet meeting. “I just got to see it. The answer is no, I’m not. I’m not happy.”

  The compromise provides just $1.375 billion for new barriers along the southern border, less than the amount he rejected in December leading to the 35-day partial government shutdown. It’s also far less than the $5.7 billion Trump has demanded, which makes you wonder how hard the Republicans fought to get the money for the President’s wall.

  Notably, the agreement prohibits the building of barriers out of concrete. They would have to be made of materials similar to existing fencing.

  Trump said, I am extremely unhappy with what the Democrats have given us. It’s sad, it’s sad. They are doing our country no favor. They are hurting our country very badly.”

  He went on, “The bottom line is, on the wall, we’re building the wall and we’re using other methods other than this, and in addition to this a lot of things going.”

  Despite what Trump says, no new wall has been built. They are repairing about 40 miles of existing barrier.

Final El Chapoter: The Mexican drug lord known as “El Chapo” was convicted of all charges yesterday after six days of jury deliberations in a Brooklyn federal court. He faces life in prison.

  Ten weeks of testimony cast a spotlight on the brutally murderous and depraved regime of the man who smuggled drugs and money into the US over land, on jets, and even in a submarine.

  It was a rare trial in which there was a parade of cooperating witnesses. Even El Chapo’s mistress testified against him while proclaiming her love. Witnesses described how he tortured and killed his rivals and had his henchmen abduct teenage girls so he could rape them.

  El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera, was famous for evading capture and escaping when he was in prison. He once got out through a tunnel equipped with a motorcycle on tracks. 

  It wasn’t all bad for El Chapo. When the actor who plays him on the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico” showed up at the trial one day, he broke out in a big smile.

High Maintenance:The admiral in charge of the Pacific fleet defended the Navy in front of a congressional panel yesterday regarding two embarrassing ship collisions in 2017 that killed a combined 17 sailors. Adm. Phil Davidson

said that, “the fact of the matter is 280-odd other ships weren’t having collisions.” 

  Sen. Angus King of Maine took exception, saying, “Airplanes are landing all over America, and just because they aren’t all crashing doesn’t mean they don’t need a high level of maintenance.” 

  The hearing came after the devastating investigative report by ProPublica detailing events that led to the collision of the destroyer USS Fitzgerald with a freighter off Japan.

  The Fitzgerald is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, a computerized weapon of wizardry, bristling with missiles and able to see far across the water. But the ProPublica reporttells of hundreds of maintenance items left untended, an untrained crew with 40 percent new members, and poorly operated radar systems that were malfunctioning. At the moment of the collision, the Fitzgerald was cruising blind at 20 knots with no lights on.

  The description of the ship’s operations and the denial by Navy brass is frightening.

Deep Background: Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are mightily annoyed with President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen for cancelling his testimony yesterday. Cohen cited health reasons even though he was out in the town in New York Saturday night. Republican Chairman Richard Burr said, “We may have to help him go to prison.” — The Special Counsel is taking a hard look at an August 2016 meeting former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had in Manhattan with a Russian political operative. Manafort and his sidekick Rick Gates met with Konstantin Kilimnikat the Grand Havana Room, a mahogany-paneled cigar room. The Washington Post reports that “It was at that meeting that prosecutors believe Manafort and Kilimnik may have exchanged key information relevant to Russia and Trump’s presidential bid.”

Open Country:The Senate yesterday passed a sweeping conservation bill, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country. It also establishes four new national monuments. It was old style deal making. “It touches every state, features the input of a wide coalition of our colleagues, and has earned the support of a broad, diverse coalition of many advocates for public lands, economic development and conservation,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Train Delay:California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in his State of the Sate message that he’s pulling out of large portions of the high-speed rail system that had been the vision of his two predecessors. The train from San Francisco to Los Angeles would have taken 30 years to build. The price of just one segment is estimated at $77 billion. Newsom said it’s just too expensive.

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