Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned President Trump Thursday evening against declaring an emergency to build a wall on the southern border, suggesting that congressional Democrats would take legal action to block him.
“He’ll be making a tremendous mistake,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
“Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency, and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for the wall,” the New Yorker said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier in the day that Trump intended to declare an emergency in order to move ahead with border wall construction. McConnell spoke as the Senate moved toward approving legislation to fund the government that only included $1.375 billion for fencing at the southern border, far from Trump’s request. Trump had yet to outline what specific emergency action he would take.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accused the president of fabricating the issues at the border, calling it a “huge waste of money” that could be spent on schools, cancer research or infrastructure.
“There’s no national emergency at the border. Unauthorized border crossings are at their lowest levels in decades, about one-third of their peak levels two decades ago. If there were an emergency, the president wouldn’t have waited two years to make this political decision,” she said in a statement.
Schumer indicated that Democrats were prepared to sue to stop Trump. “Make no mistake: Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in every way that we can,” he said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said his panel would investigate the “supposed legal basis” for Trump’s decision.
“This is a gross abuse of power that cannot be tolerated,” his statement said.
Caitlin Yilek contributed to this report.
