Trump says U.S. will be 'paid back' for Mexico wall

President-elect Donald Trump defended a plan Friday that would see the United States initially pay for a border wall with Mexico and be reimbursed at a later date.

"The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!" Trump tweeted Friday.

The proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall was one of Trump's key campaign pledges. He repeatedly vowed to make Mexico pay for it.

Trump did not specify in his tweet whether his administration would seek to build the wall with taxpayer money, although he suggested in a speech in October that U.S. government funds could initially be used to get the project off the ground.

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"I said Mexico is paying for the wall, with the full understanding that the country of Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such a wall, OK?" Trump said at a rally in Gettysburg, Pa. on Oct. 22. "We’re going to have the wall. Mexico is going to pay for the wall."

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has said his country won't pay for the wall.

While the detail of Trump's proposal was not clear, the Associated Press reported the president-elect's aides are pushing for a plan that would seek the funds through existing legislation such as the Secure Fence Act of 2006. That act already authorizes some types of enclosures along the U.S.'s southern border.

In a series of early-morning tweets Friday, Trump also urged his supporters to attend his inauguration on Jan. 20, claimed that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party "were never going to beat the PASSION of my voters" and poked fun at the softer ratings of "The Apprentice" television show since his departure.

He is due to receive an intelligence briefing Friday on alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. election.