Donald Trump slammed government officials at rally on Monday and said “people were full of crap” if they say a border fence hasn’t made a difference in reducing crime in El Paso, Texas. Trump also told his supporters that they shouldn’t believe government data about border security…they should only believe what he says instead.

“There’s no place better to talk about border security whether they like it or not,” Trump said while speaking at the El Paso County Coliseum. “I’ve been hearing a lot of things. ‘Oh the wall didn’t make that much of a difference.’”

“You know where it made a big difference, right here in El Paso,” Trump continued.

Trump doubled down on his claims that the city became safer after a border wall was built nearby. His comments at the rally follow denials of his claims from Republican El Paso Mayor Dee Margo and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke.

“And I don’t care if a mayor is a Republican or a Democrat, they’re full of crap when they say it hasn’t made a big difference,” Trump said, referring to the criticism he received from Margo after he made similar claims in his State of the Union address.

The president added that he’s been told by officials in the region that placing a wall in El Paso changed the “whole ballgame” when it came to crime in the city.

O’Rourke countered Trump’s claims in his own rally on Monday night, saying El Paso is “safe not because of walls but in spite of walls.”

El Paso sits just across the border from the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez and is divided by the Rio Grande and a stretch of fence that was constructed more than 10 years ago.

The New York Times fact-checked Trump’s rally, and called out his lie, you can read it HERE.

WATCH:

Gaslighting as blatant as it gets — Trump demands his followers disregard government data, and have blind faith a border wall will reduce crime. pic.twitter.com/MnWcBTbxPL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 12, 2019