11 January 2019 - Trump Will 'Almost Definitely' Declare National Emergency Over Border Wall
Trump Says He's Likely To Declare National Emergency If Congress Won't Fund Wall
Brian Naylor (NPR, 10/01/2019)
President Trump says he is willing to declare a national emergency if Democrats don't go along with his demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall.
Trump's campaign for a border wall took him to McAllen, Texas, on Thursday for a visit to a Border Patrol station and a roundtable discussion with local officials, before heading to the Rio Grande.
As he left the White House on Thursday morning, Trump said he has the "absolute right" to declare a national emergency in order to construct a border wall but said he prefers to continue efforts to make a deal with Congress. However, he said, "If we don't make a deal, I think it would be very surprising to me" to not declare an emergency.
Trump says 'the law is 100% on my side' for national emergency
Emily Birnbaum (The Hill, 10/01/2019)
President Trump during an interview on Thursday night said that the law is "100 percent on my side" when it comes to declaring a national emergency over the situation at the border.
"If we don’t make a deal with Congress, most likely I will do that," Trump told Fox News's Sean Hannity, referring to declaring a national emergency. "I would actually say I would. I can’t imagine any reason why not, because I’m allowed to do it."
"The law is 100 percent on my side," he said.
A history of Trump’s promises that Mexico would pay for the wall, which it refuses to do
Glenn Kessler (The Washington Post, 09/01/2019)
“I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”
— Donald Trump, in his presidential announcement speech, June 16, 2015
Who will pay for Donald Trump's border wall?
(The Guardian, 11/01/2019)
Donald Trump has visited the southern US border in Texas after walking out of talks to resolve one of the country’s longest government shutdowns in history. The president has refused to authorise the release of funds to pay up to 800,000 government workers until he secures funding for his central campaign promise of a border wall.
The Guardian’s US political correspondent, Lauren Gambino, joins Anushka Asthana to discuss the paralysis in the US government and why the president is so fixated on building his wall. And, as Trump tries to rally support in Texas, the Guardian’s Bryan Mealer reports that there is indeed a crisis at the border, but one largely of the president’s own making. Refugees and asylum seekers are facing appalling living conditions in detention centres struggling to cope with new arrivals.