Trump Threatens To Declare A National Emergency To Build His Wall

Last updated on January 6th, 2019 at 05:29 am

During a press conference at the White House, Trump said that he has the power to declare a national emergency and build his wall.

Trump was asked if he has considered using emergency powers to get his wall.

The president answered, “We could call a national emergency because of the security of our country. Absolutely. No, we can do it. I haven’t done it. I may do it. I may do it. But we could call a national emergency and build it very quickly and that is another way of doing it.”

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However, this is not the way that national emergencies work:

Contrary to what Trump and his White House think, the president doesn’t have the unlimited power to declare a national emergency. Trump can only declare a national emergency within the powers granted to him by Congress.

Trump can’t declare an emergency and build his wall. That is now how any of this works. If it was legal to take such action, presidents would be able to act without consulting Congress and would exercise unlimited power.

Trump‘s threat is an empty one, but it shows why he has been trying to create a crisis on the border. Trump is looking for more than money for his wall. He is trying to create the pretext for building his wall without congressional authorization. It won’t work, and if Trump tries it, he will quickly lose in federal court.

The president doesn’t have special magical emergency powers that allow him to ignore the Constitution and build his wall, but Trump isn’t beneath trampling the Constitution to make Fox News happy.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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