Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said President Trump will secure the border “with or without Congress” as negotiations continue over a wall after the White House and Congress agreed to temporarily reopen the government.

“It’s still better to get it through legislation,” Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.”

He noted that going through legislative channels is the “right way” to get funding but also suggested that Trump would declare a national emergency to get the money for a border barrier if Democrats continue to oppose him.

“At the end of the day, the president’s commitment is to defend the nation and he’ll do it either with or without Congress,” Mulvaney continued.

Trump and Congress entered a deal last Friday to reopen the government until Feb. 15 so that the two sides can continue talks on the president’s demand for a wall.

While the accord ended the longest partial government shutdown in US history, it did not provide the $5.7 billion Trump wanted.

Mulvaney brushed back claims that Trump caved to Democrats after saying for 35 days he would not give in unless he got cash for the wall.

Trump was responding to Democrats who said they simply can’t go ahead with a wall while the government is shut down, Mulvaney said.

“The president saw a chance here to take the Democrats at their word,” he said.

The next step in the talks will be the defining moment for Trump, Mulvaney said.

“Ultimately, he’ll be judged by what happens at the end of this process,” he said.

But he also didn’t rule out shutting government down again if Democrats won’t provide the funding.

“No one wants a government shutdown,” Mulvaney said. “But when a president vetoes a bill that’s put in front of him on a spending package, sometimes that has the effect of shutting the government down. We don’t go into this trying to shut the government down.”

GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said he’s been in Congress for two shutdowns and the “aggressor in neither one was the winner.”

“I don’t think shutdowns are good leverage … I think it’s important to separate the tactics from the goal and the policy aim and what the president wants is not unreasonable,” Rubio said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”