Trump holds off on threat to declare national emergency
President Trump said he isn't ready to declare a national emergency yet, as the partial government shutdown over border wall funding is poised to become the longest on record Saturday. Mr. Trump — who has threatened to declare a national emergency if Congress doesn't reach an agreement to fund the wall — said he's waiting on Congress first.
"Now the easy solution is for me to call a national emergency, I could do that very quickly. I have the absolute right to do it," Mr. Trump said Friday in a roundtable discussion with local officials on border security. "But I'm not going to do it so fast because this is something Congress should do. And we're waiting for the Democrats to vote, they should come back and vote. They want to go home. They're probably home by now."
Mr. Trump on Thursday said he will almost "100 percent" declare a national emergency as a way to fund his border wall if Congress can't reach a deal, although such a move would almost certainly be challenged in federal courts. Republicans, Democrats and the White House are in a stalemate over border funding, with the White House demanding $5.7 for a wall or fencing, and Democrats insisting they will have none of that.
Mr. Trump said he's not ready to declare a national emergency shortly after a meeting with GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who urged the president to declare a national emergency. Mr. Trump insisted Friday that he doesn't care what Democrats call his border wall, as long as it's built.
"This is where I ask the Democrats to go back to Washington and to vote for money for the wall, the barrier, whatever you want to call it, it's ok with me," Mr. Trump said. "They can name it whatever, they can name it 'Peaches.' I don't care what they name it, but we need money for that barrier."
The president has been insisting this week he never said Mexico would pay directly for the wall. But his 2016 campaign issued a memo outlining how they would compel Mexico to "make a one-time payment" of $5 billion or $10 billion for the wall. On Thursday, Mr. Trump visited the southern border in Texas, where he held a roundtable with Customs and Border Patrol agents and family members of people killed by illegal immigrants.
"When I say Mexico's going to pay for the wall that's what I said, Mexico's going to pay," he said Thursday. "I didn't say they're going to write me a check for $20 billion or $10 billion. They weren't going to write a check. I said they're going to pay for the wall. And if Congress approves this incredible trade bill that we made with Mexico and Canada by the way but with Mexico in this case, they're paying for the wall many many times over. I didn't mean please write me a check, I mean very simply, they're paying for it in the trade deal. And sometimes I'd say that so hopefully people will start to understand."
After his Texas trip, the president claimed the border situation in Mexico has gotten significantly worse — a case he will need to make clearly if he does indeed declare a national emergency.
"Humanitarian Crisis at our Southern Border. I just got back and it is a far worse situation than almost anyone would understand, an invasion!" he tweeted Friday morning.
New House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff wrote a letter to the White House Friday, asking for evidence to substantiate claims that the border wall is needed to keep out terrorists.
"To date, I have not seen recent or updated information from the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) to substantiate the Administration's dire proclamations about the magnitude and nature of this claimed crisis - particularly with respect to terrorism," Schiff wrote.