Trump declares emergency to build his wall

This 14 February 2019 video from the United States Senate says about itself:

[Republican] Senator McConnell Say President Trump Will Sign Government Funding Bill To Avert Shutdown [and will declare state of emergency].

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

President Trump will sign the budget deal, thus a new shutdown of the government will be averted. However, according to his spokesperson, Trump will declare a state of emergency (‘national emergency’) to still get access to money for building his desired wall at the border with Mexico.

In the budget, only $ 1.3 billion is allocated to the border wall. Trump wants to bring in the rest of the 5.7 billion needed by a partial state of emergency. Then he can free up money outside of Congress.

The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has already indicated that she wants to try to stop the state of emergency.

Power grab

US presidents sometimes resort to the means of a ‘national emergency’ to gain additional powers. This usually happens in connection with foreign crises or natural disasters.

It is very exceptional that Trump uses this special power in an effort to push through a domestic construction project.

GRAHAM: WALL OVER SCHOOL Sen. Lindsey Graham defended the possibility of taking money away from building a middle school in Kentucky in order to erect Trump’s border wall, saying children need a “secure border” more than a school. [HuffPost]

The Trump administration’s war against immigrants has taken two major steps forward. On Monday night, the Pentagon announced that it would make available $1 billion to facilitate the construction of the border wall. On Tuesday, the US House of Representatives failed to override Trump’s veto of the congressional resolution to overturn his declaration of a national emergency on the US-Mexico border, the official basis for the Pentagon action: here.

In an article based on leaks from top officials inside the White House, the Washington Post reports that Trump promised top aides that he would pardon any government official who broke the law in the course of efforts to build a wall along the US-Mexico border: here.