Eric Trump Pushes President To Declare National Emergency Over Border Wall
First son Eric Trump revealed that he pushed president Donald Trump to declare a national state of emergency due to the southern border wall situation. Recently, the president shut down the U.S. government for 35 days over a stalemate with Congress on funding for his signature project. Now, with a new deadline in mid-February, it does not look like Congress and the president will reach a deal on the billions he’s asked for to build the physical barrier.
According to a report from the Washington Post, on Tuesday night, the president’s second son appeared on the Fox News channel in an interview with Fox personality Sean Hannity. During the conversation, which lasted six minutes, Trump told Hannity, “I want him to declare an emergency.” The talk show host immediately agreed with the first son and said, “Oh, I think he will.”
President Trump promised to build a wall, and he promised that Mexico would foot the bill. While Mexico quickly declared it would not pay for the wall, that has not stopped the president from attempting to secure funding after serving for two years. He asked for $5.7 billion, and Congress did not send Trump a budget that included the funding he wanted to obtain to build the barrier.
Eric Trump’s statement came after the top intelligence officials in the U.S. failed to mention the border the country shares with Mexico among the top threats to national security, according to an ABC News report. The intel chiefs reported that ISIS remains a threat and is intent on resurging in Syria and Iraq. Also, the report included China and Russia, which have a closer than usual relationship, as threats to the country.
John Cohen, a former Homeland Security official, called the report striking in that it failed to mention the southern border as the president looks poised to declare the situation a national emergency.
ICYMI: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says the president declaring a national emergency to get border wall funding is a "terrible idea."@marcorubio: "It's just not a good precedent to set." #MTP pic.twitter.com/WOtiKooV0q
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 28, 2019
Even several from Trump’s Republican party do not feel a national emergency is the way to go to fund the border wall. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio said an emergency is “a terrible idea” on Sunday’s Meet the Press. The senator further said, “I hope he doesn’t do it. It’s just not a good precedent to set in terms of action. It doesn’t mean that I don’t want border security ? I do. I just think that’s the wrong way to achieve it.”
Many feel that if the president declares an emergency, it will immediately see a challenge in court. Plus, in 1950 President Truman declared such an emergency during the Korean War, and it was declared invalid by the courts.
