News Fact check: Trump says he ‘obviously’ never said Mexico would pay directly for the wall. But he did January 10, 2019 William Cummings, USA TODAY Comments Off on Fact check: Trump says he ‘obviously’ never said Mexico would pay directly for the wall. But he did "I never meant they're going to write out a check," Trump claimed. But his campaign did say he would get a "payment of $5 - 10 billion" from Mexico.