Trump warns to declare national emergency to build border wall

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said he could declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress and build a wall along the US border with Mexico, shortly after threatening Democrats that he’s prepared to keep part of the government shut down for a year or longer if his demands aren’t met.
“Absolutely we can call a national emergency because of the security of our country,” Trump said at the White House. “I haven’t done it. I may do it. We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly.”
Trump’s comments were quickly met with skepticism within his own party and sharp criticism by Democrats. Several lawmakers and experts said Congress would still be required to allocate the funds for the wall even if the president declared a national emergency.
“He could declare an emergency, but that does not create the funding,” said former Republican Senate Budget Committee staff director Bill Hoagland. “Congress would still have to fund the emergency.”
House Democrats suggested they would sue if Trump tries to declare a national emergency to build the wall. “The president’s authority in this area is intended for wars and genuine national emergencies,” Evan Hollander, spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, said. “Asserting this authority to build a wasteful wall is legally dubious and would invite a legal challenge from Congress.”
Trump made the comments just moments after Democratic leaders left the White House saying there had been no progress toward a deal during a nearly two-hour meeting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the meeting was contentious, and that Trump refused their proposal to reopen government and deal separately with the dispute over the wall.
“We really cannot resolve this until we open up government, and we made that clear to the president,” Pelosi told reporters.
Trump, however, said moments later that the meeting was productive. The sides agreed to meet over the weekend, and Trump expressed optimism that an agreement could be forged.

Shutdown pushes towards 3rd week
Bloomberg

President Donald Trump has gained little leverage with Democrats two weeks into the partial government shutdown of his own making, with fewer possible escape routes and a more treacherous path ahead as the GOP relinquishes control of the House.
The president made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room with border patrol agents, hours after Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, to make his case.
But he took no questions from reporters who assembled expecting a news conference by Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
He invited leaders of the National Border Patrol Council, a labour union that represents 18,000 border patrol agents and other federal workers, to speak briefly in support of building a wall on the border with Mexico.