President Trump said Friday he is declaring a national emergency on the southern border, tapping into executive powers in a bid to divert billions toward construction of a wall even as he signs a funding package that includes just $1.4 billion for border security.

“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border … one way or the other, we have to do it,” Trump said in the Rose Garden.

TRUMP WILL SIGN BORDER SECURITY BILL, DECLARE NATIONAL EMERGENCY, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

The move is expected to face a swift and forceful legal challenge that could stall the attempt in the courts for the near future. But the declaration and other money-moving plans allow Trump to continue to fight for border wall construction while also averting another partial government shutdown -- which would have been triggered at midnight absent the new funding package. He signed the spending deal Friday afternoon.

Trump, in the Rose Garden, declared once again that "walls work" as he confirmed the emergency declaration would accompany the spending legislation.

"We’re talking about an invasion of our country," Trump said.

And in an almost-casual tone, the president predicted a legal fight that will wind up before the Supreme Court.

"We will have a national emergency, and we will then be sued," Trump said, adding that the federal appeals courts could well rule against his administration. "Then we’ll end up in the Supreme Court, and hopefully we’ll get a fair shake, and we’ll win at the Supreme Court -- just like the [travel] ban.”

A senior administration official told Fox News that the White House plans to move $8 billion in currently appropriated or available funds toward construction of the wall. Of that, $3 billion could be diverted with help from the emergency declaration.

That money includes about $600 million from the Treasury Department’s forfeiture fund. That money has been described as “easy money” that the White House can use however it wants. The White House is also expected to use drug interdiction money from the Department of Defense.

But by declaring an emergency, Trump would also seek to unlock money from the Defense Department’s military construction budget, to the tune of $3.5 billion.

Diverting Pentagon funding, however, is expected to set off a legal battle and has already prompted fierce opposition from Democrats in Congress.

"This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. "The President's actions clearly violate the Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, which our Founders enshrined in the Constitution."

They vowed Congress would "defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every remedy available."

"The President’s declaration of a national emergency would be an abuse of his constitutional oath and an affront to the separation of powers. Congress has the exclusive power of the purse, and the Constitution specifically prohibits the President from spending money that has not been appropriated. ... This is a gross abuse of power that cannot be tolerated," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

This is far from the only declared national emergency. According to the Congressional Research Service, there are at least 30 "national emergencies" in effect, including those concerning blocking Iranian government property, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other terror-related acts. But none of the emergencies have involved the president of the United States spending money that had not been specifically appropriated by Congress.

The president’s decision to declare a national emergency comes after a review of the spending package. The compromise package, which was negotiated for weeks in a bipartisan conference committee, passed both the House and the Senate on Thursday. But the deal would provide only a fraction of Trump’s originally proposed figure of $5.7 billion for border security and construction of a wall or physical barrier along the southern border.

The bill also imposed a number of restrictions on the White House, with legislative language preventing the administration from moving funding around to get a barrier or a wall -- a factor that may have contributed to the emergency declaration decision.

WHAT IS A 'NATIONAL EMERGENCY' AND HOW CAN TRUMP USE IT TO FUND THE BORDER WALL?

The package, as it stands, is enough to build just 55 miles of barrier. And notably, the word "wall" does not appear once in the 1,768 pages of legislation and explanatory materials.

The funding battle follows the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. From Dec. 22 through Jan. 25—for 35 days—the White House and congressional Democrats battled over border security funding. Trump requested $5.7 billion for construction of the wall, while Democrats vowed to block any spending proposal that included such funding. The shutdown left more than 800,000 federal employees and contractors furloughed or working without pay. At the end of last month, though, Trump signed a short-term spending package that funded the government through the Friday deadline.

The prior fight left little appetite on either side of the aisle for another shutdown, leading to the passage Thursday of the compromise measure.

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Trump, though, has talked for weeks about taking executive action to divert money from other programs for wall construction, without congressional sign-off—despite his criticisms of former President Barack Obama for using executive action.

Fox News’ Alex Pappas and Bret Baier and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and border security (all times local):

The American Civil Liberties Union says it will file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Friday announcement came hours after Trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. The civil rights group will argue that Trump's use of emergency powers is unprecedented and can't be used to build a border wall.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says the declaration is 'patently illegal.' Their legal action would be separate from anything Congress may do.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have also raised the possibility of legal action. They say Trump's decision would "shred the Constitution" by usurping Congress' power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects.

President Donald Trump has signed legislation to avert another government shutdown and pay for limited fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump signed the bill at the White House on Friday.

The legislation gives Trump 55 additional miles of border fencing, well short of the 200-plus miles he wanted.

The legislation also keeps parts of the government from shutting down at midnight Friday by providing $333 billion to finance several Cabinet agencies through September.

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency at the southern border and is using his executive authority to tap billions of other government funds to build the wall.

Congress' two top Democrats say they'll use "every remedy available" to oppose President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency to shift billions of federal dollars into building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday they'll take action "in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public."

They say Trump's decision to declare an emergency is unlawful. They say it would "shred the Constitution" by usurping Congress' power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects. Pelosi and Schumer say Trump would be using money needed "for the security of our military and our nation."

Democrats can file lawsuits and force congressional votes to block Trump's money transfers. Trump could veto the legislation should it pass.

President Donald Trump says he expects legal challenges to his decision to declare a national emergency to erect barriers between the U.S. and Mexico but says he'll be vindicated.

Trump announced Friday that he has signed the appropriate paperwork to declare an emergency on the border so he can build a wall.

In a sing-songy tone of voice, Trump then described how the decision will be challenged and work its way through the courts, including up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Critics have accused Trump of abusing his authority.

Trump says he shouldn't be sued but predicts "we will be very successful in court."

He adds: "Sadly, we'll be sued and sadly it will go through a process and happily we'll win."

President Donald Trump says he needs to use emergency powers to protect the United States from drug dealers and immigrants in the nation illegally.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a photo of Trump signing the declaration Friday in the moments before his scattershot Rose Garden news conference.

Trump told stories of horrific abuse of women being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border but didn't provide any evidence. He also said the border wall would be needed to battle drug cartels as part of a "virtual invasion" from Mexico.

The president declared a national emergency and would find other funds for the wall after expressing unhappiness about a congressional border security deal.

Families of people killed by immigrants in the United States illegally attended the news conference.

Trump's plans have been criticized on Capitol Hill.

President Donald Trump says many other presidents have declared national emergencies. But the presidents he has cited did not use emergency powers to pay for projects that Congress wouldn't support.

Emergency declarations by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were overwhelmingly for the purpose of addressing crises that emerged abroad. Many blocked foreign interests or terrorist-linked entities from access to funds. Some prohibited certain imports from or investments to countries associated with human rights abuses.

A list compiled by the Brennan Center says Clinton declared 17 national emergencies, Bush 13 and Obama 12.

Trump said Friday he will use executive powers to bypass Congress, which approved far less money for border barriers than he had sought. Trump plans to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The move has drawn criticism on Capitol Hill and is expected to face rounds of legal challenges.

President Donald Trump says he'll be declaring a national emergency so he can build a southern border wall.

Trump did not say on Friday when he would make such a declaration, but the move will allow him to bypass Congress to spend more money to erect barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Congress has given Trump about $1.4 billion for border barriers, well below the $5.7 billion Trump has insisted he needed to build a wall.

To get around Congress, Trump plans to use his executive authority to tap other sources of funding to get a total of $8 billion to build the wall. The White House says Trump plans to tap accounts in the Treasury and Defense departments, but not money earmarked for disaster relief.

Trump's move is expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

Add the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the groups opposing a national emergency declaration by President Donald Trump to free up budget funds to build his Southwest border wall.

The business organization's stance is not a total surprise. It's opposed Trump administration efforts to restrict legal immigration and to make it harder for young "Dreamer" immigrants to stay in the U.S.

Still, the chamber usually leans Republican. Its opposition Friday is the latest example of how word of an emergency declaration is splitting the GOP and its constituencies.

Trump plans to sign bipartisan legislation providing nearly $1.4 billion to build border barriers, but that fell short of the $5.7 billion he wanted.

Trump is expected to invoke executive powers to access another $6.6 billion. He says he'll sign a national emergency. That's expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

President Donald Trump plans to spend about $8 billion on border barriers, far more than Congress has given him for that purpose.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says Trump will tap various other sources of money beyond the nearly $1.4 billion in a government funding bill that Congress passed. Trump is expected to sign the bill.

Besides the money from Congress, Mulvaney said Friday that Trump plans to spend $600 million in Treasury forfeiture funds and $2.5 billion in Defense Department counterdrug money. Trump is also tapping about $3.6 billion worth of funds set aside for military construction projects.

Mulvaney says Trump is not tapping disaster relief money designated to help Texas and Puerto Rico following recent devastating hurricanes.

Trump's moves are expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

Congress has lopsidedly approved a border security compromise that would avert a second painful government shutdown.

But a new confrontation has been ignited. President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary is certain to be challenged.

Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation passed Thursday but act unilaterally to get more. That prompted condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.</s>President Trump may have derailed this own national emergency declared on Friday to authorize an additional $7 billion for his long-promised border wall.

While speaking with reporters outside the White House, Trump said " I didn’t need to do this . But I’d rather do it much faster."

Critics and attorneys immediately seized on Trump's language, suggesting that it proves there's no legitimate national emergency at hand.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has announced its intention to file a legal challenge to Trump's national emergency declaration, stating "By the president’s very own admission in the Rose Garden, there is no national emergency."

George Conway, the Trump-hating husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and D.C. power-lawyer, wasted no time jumping on Trump's comments.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called the national emergency a "lawless act," and a "gross abuse of the power of the presidency."

And with Trump's admission that he didn't have to do it - he may have shot himself in the foot.</s>President Donald Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border Friday and predicted his administration would end up defending it all the way to the Supreme Court.

That might have been the only thing Trump said Friday that produced near-universal agreement.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced its intention to sue less than an hour after the White House released the text of Trump’s declaration that the “current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several Democratic state attorneys general already have said they might go to court.

The coming legal fight seems likely to hinge on two main issues: Can the president declare a national emergency to build a border wall in the face of Congress’ refusal to give him all the money he wanted and, under the federal law Trump invoked in his declaration, can the Defense Department take money from some congressionally approved military construction projects to pay for wall construction?

The Pentagon has so far not said which projects might be affected.

But after weeks of publicly ruminating whether to act, Trump’s signature on the declaration set in motion a quick march to the courthouse.

Trump relied on the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which Congress adopted as a way to put some limits on presidential use of national emergencies. The act requires a president to notify Congress publicly of the national emergency and to report every six months. The law also says the president must renew the emergency every year, simply by notifying Congress. The House and Senate also can revoke a declaration by majority vote, though it would take a two-thirds vote by each house to override an expected presidential veto.

Beyond that, though, the law doesn’t say what constitutes a national emergency or impose any other limits on the president.

The broad grant of discretion to the president could make it hard to persuade courts to rule that Trump exceeded his authority in declaring a border emergency. “He’s the one who gets to make the call. We can’t second-guess it,” said John Eastman, a professor of constitutional law at the Chapman University School of Law.

Courts often are reluctant to look beyond the justifications the president included in his proclamation, Ohio State University law professor Peter Shane said on a call organized by the liberal American Constitution Society.

But other legal experts said the facts are powerfully arrayed against the president. They include government statistics showing a decades-long decline in illegal border crossings as well as Trump’s rejection of a deal last year that would have provided more than the nearly $1.4 billion he got for border security in the budget agreement he signed Thursday. Opponents of the declaration also are certain to use Trump’s own words at his Rose Garden news conference Friday to argue that there is no emergency on the border.

“I could do the wall over a longer period of time,” Trump said. “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”

Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Congress made a conscious choice not to give Trump what he wanted. “A prerequisite for declaring an emergency is that the situation requires immediate action and Congress does not have an opportunity to act,” Amash said on Twitter.

ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said Trump’s remarks are an admission that there is no national emergency. “He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress,” Romero said in a statement that also said the rights group would file a lawsuit next week.

Trying to turn the president’s words against him failed in the challenge to Trump’s ban on travel to the United States by citizens of several mostly Muslim countries. The ban’s opponents argued that Trump’s comments as a candidate and as president showed the ban was motivated by anti-Muslim bias, not concern about national security. Lower courts struck down the ban, but the Supreme Court upheld it in a 5-4 vote last year.

Trump said he expected to lose in lower courts that he claims have been unfair to him, particularly if lawsuits are filed in California. “Hopefully, we’ll get a fair shake and we’ll win in the Supreme Court, just like the ban,” he said.

Beyond the challenge to Trump’s authority to declare an emergency, lawsuits also are expected to focus on the military construction project law that allows the re-allocation of money in a national emergency.

Eastman said he doubts that the Supreme Court would try to interfere with Trump’s decision to send the military to the border and then authorize the use of money from other Defense Department construction projects to build miles of a border wall. “The president is authorized to make those judgments, not some judge in San Francisco,” Eastman said.

But the ACLU’s suit will argue that Congress allowed for flexibility in using money it appropriated for projects needed to support the emergency use of the military forces, like overseas military airfields in wartime.

Several legal experts said claims that the building of the wall is not the kind of project contemplated in the military construction law could be more difficult to rebut because border security is more like a law enforcement issue than a military emergency.

But Shane, the Ohio State professor, said, “It’s hard to know how exactly this is going to unfold politically or judicially.”

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>President Donald Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border Friday and predicted his administration would end up defending it all the way to the Supreme Court.

That might have been the only thing Trump said Friday that produced near-universal agreement.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced its intention to sue less than an hour after the White House released the text of Trump’s declaration that the “current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several Democratic state attorneys general already have said they might go to court.

The coming legal fight seems likely to hinge on two main issues: Can the president declare a national emergency to build a border wall in the face of Congress’ refusal to give him all the money he wanted and, under the federal law Trump invoked in his declaration, can the Defense Department take money from some congressionally approved military construction projects to pay for wall construction?

The Pentagon has so far not said which projects might be affected.

But after weeks of publicly ruminating whether to act, Trump’s signature on the declaration set in motion a quick march to the courthouse.

Trump relied on the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which Congress adopted as a way to put some limits on presidential use of national emergencies. The act requires a president to notify Congress publicly of the national emergency and to report every six months. The law also says the president must renew the emergency every year, simply by notifying Congress. The House and Senate also can revoke a declaration by majority vote, though it would take a two-thirds vote by each house to override an expected presidential veto.

Beyond that, though, the law doesn’t say what constitutes a national emergency or impose any other limits on the president.

The broad grant of discretion to the president could make it hard to persuade courts to rule that Trump exceeded his authority in declaring a border emergency. “He’s the one who gets to make the call. We can’t second-guess it,” said John Eastman, a professor of constitutional law at the Chapman University School of Law.

Courts often are reluctant to look beyond the justifications the president included in his proclamation, Ohio State University law professor Peter Shane said on a call organized by the liberal American Constitution Society.

But other legal experts said the facts are powerfully arrayed against the president. They include government statistics showing a decades-long decline in illegal border crossings as well as Trump’s rejection of a deal last year that would have provided more than the nearly $1.4 billion he got for border security in the budget agreement he signed Thursday. Opponents of the declaration also are certain to use Trump’s own words at his Rose Garden news conference Friday to argue that there is no emergency on the border.

“I could do the wall over a longer period of time,” Trump said. “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”

Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Congress made a conscious choice not to give Trump what he wanted. “A prerequisite for declaring an emergency is that the situation requires immediate action and Congress does not have an opportunity to act,” Amash said on Twitter.

ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said Trump’s remarks are an admission that there is no national emergency. “He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress,” Romero said in a statement that also said the rights group would file a lawsuit next week.

Trying to turn the president’s words against him failed in the challenge to Trump’s ban on travel to the United States by citizens of several mostly Muslim countries. The ban’s opponents argued that Trump’s comments as a candidate and as president showed the ban was motivated by anti-Muslim bias, not concern about national security. Lower courts struck down the ban, but the Supreme Court upheld it in a 5-4 vote last year.

Trump said he expected to lose in lower courts that he claims have been unfair to him, particularly if lawsuits are filed in California. “Hopefully, we’ll get a fair shake and we’ll win in the Supreme Court, just like the ban,” he said.

Beyond the challenge to Trump’s authority to declare an emergency, lawsuits also are expected to focus on the military construction project law that allows the re-allocation of money in a national emergency.

Eastman said he doubts that the Supreme Court would try to interfere with Trump’s decision to send the military to the border and then authorize the use of money from other Defense Department construction projects to build miles of a border wall. “The president is authorized to make those judgments, not some judge in San Francisco,” Eastman said.

But the ACLU’s suit will argue that Congress allowed for flexibility in using money it appropriated for projects needed to support the emergency use of the military forces, like overseas military airfields in wartime.

Several legal experts said claims that the building of the wall is not the kind of project contemplated in the military construction law could be more difficult to rebut because border security is more like a law enforcement issue than a military emergency.

But Shane, the Ohio State professor, said, “It’s hard to know how exactly this is going to unfold politically or judicially.”</s>Well, that was a lot. On Friday, Feb. 15, President Donald Trump was slated to announce that he will sign national emergency, which will allow him to secure funding for his long promised border wall at the United States southern border — and he did. But in that same address, he also touched on a number of other random topics. What I'm saying is that you might want to take a breath before you watch this video of Donald Trump's national emergency announcement because it's sorta, kinda all over the place.

Trump started his speech, which was supposed to be about immigration, with a series of non-immigration talking points. He addressed trade with China and his relationship with President Xi, his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and more. Then he slowly started inching toward the topic of immigration, sharing his usual, evidence-lacking stories of abuse of women being smuggled across the border, and declaring that there is a "tremendous" amount of drugs pouring into the United States. Finally, he announced that he would be signing a national emergency to combat those problems. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for further comment on the subject, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

He didn't waste any time getting to it, either. Shortly after his speech, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a photo of Trump signing the order in the Oval Office.

The move, which will almost certainly face some legal challenges by Democrats, has already been criticized. On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) called the declaration "unlawful" and pointless.

“The President’s unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defense funds for the security of our military and our nation," they said in a statement shared with The Washington Examiner. "This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process."

“The President is not above the law. The Congress cannot let the President shred the Constitution," they added.

President Trump's announcement comes after he and lawmakers reached a deal to avert another government shutdown from going to effect on Feb. 15. The agreement provides $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new fencing along the border, which is far short of the $5.7 billion the president had asked for for 234 miles of concrete or steel barriers. Because of that, Trump apparently decided to declare a national emergency to get the remaining funds from the Department of Defense and other sources. Per CNN, he is reportedly trying to redirect more than $6 million for the wall.

And some people believe there's a chance he could get it. On Feb. 14, Joseph DiGenova, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote in The New York Daily News that "President Trump will have the law on his side when he uses the power of his office to secure the U.S. border with Mexico."

“The current political reality in Washington ensures that the crisis on our southern border will continue to go unresolved unless the executive branch steps in," he continued." Fortunately, both the Constitution and the Congress have placed the authority to do so firmly with the President of the United States.”

Well, here we go. Buckle up, friends — it sounds like there's a lot more drama on the way.

More to come.</s>He is expected to sign a bill on the Mexico wall

US President Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency, bypassing in this way Congress and a new shutdown in an effort to raise funds for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, a project that has been a key pre-election promise.

He delivered a speech on national security as he is expected to sign a bill to prevent another government shutdown and get money for the border wall with Mexico.

The day before, NBC News reported that Trump expected to receive up to $8 billion additionally for the construction of the wall on the border with Mexico through declaring a state of emergency.

Declaring the state of emergency will allow the president to redirect funds from ministries bypassing congressional approval.</s>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday to fulfill his pledge to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump said he will use executive powers to bypass Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought. He plans to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall. The move is already drawing bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill and expected to face rounds of legal challenges.

"I am going to be signing a national emergency," Trump said from the Rose Garden, as he claimed illegal immigration marked "an invasion of our country."

As Trump continued to speak in the Rose Garden, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a photo of the president signing the Declaration for a National Emergency in the Oval Office.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, lawmakers voted Thursday to fund large swaths of the government and avoid a repeat of this winter's debilitating five-week government shutdown. The money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles (322 kilometers) he wanted this year.

To bridge the gap, Trump announced that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers — combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including the national emergency. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts, but aides could not immediately specify which military projects would be affected.

Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump was responding to pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid appearing like he's lost his wall battle.

Word that Trump would declare the emergency prompted condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.

In an unusual joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said such a declaration would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract" from Trump's failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he's promised for years.

"Congress will defend our constitutional authorities," they said. They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying they'd wait to see what he does.

Democratic state attorneys general said they'd consider legal action to block Trump. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter "we'll see you in court" if he makes the declaration.

Even if his emergency declaration withstands challenge, Trump is still billions of dollars short of his overall funding needed to build the wall as he promised in 2016. After two years of effort, Trump has not added any new border mileage; all of the construction so far has gone to replacing and repairing existing structures. Ground is expected to be broken in South Texas soon on the first new mileage.

The White House said Trump would not try to redirect federal disaster aid to the wall, a proposal they had considered but rejected over fears of a political blowback.</s>SACRAMENTO (AP) – California is likely to sue President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the state attorney general said Friday.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra at a joint news conference with Gov. Gavin Newsom said there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn’t have the authority to make the declaration.

“No one in America is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” Becerra said. “The president does not have power to act frivolously.”

President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up “national emergency” in order to seize power. This “emergency” is a national disgrace — and the blame lays solely at the feet of the President. Our message to the White House is simple: CA will see you in court.

Trump declared a national emergency earlier in the day to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets to fulfill his promise of completing the border wall. The president said illegal immigrants were invading the country.

The announcement was immediately met with resistance from members of Congress.

Becerra and Newsom said they were reviewing the emergency declaration but are likely to join other states in suing.

Both challenged the notion that there was a real emergency. Becerra said past presidents used such declarations after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.

Newsom said the wall is a “monument to stupidity” that would not make the country safer.

California has repeatedly challenged Trump in court. Becerra has filed at least 45 lawsuits against the administration.</s>Congress and the President Donald Trump reached a bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown.

Congress and the President Donald Trump reached a bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown. The recent 35-day shutdown was the longest in U.S. history. The deal only includes $1.375 billion for border barriers and increased border security - far short of the $5.7 billion President Trump had demanded.

President Trump will not take no for an answer when it comes to his signature campaign promise to build a wall. Trump has decided to fund his wall unilaterally - during Rose Garden remarks on Friday, the president declared a “national emergency” on the southern border.

Unknown to most Americans, our Constitution’s system of checks and balances can be easily swept away when a president declares a national emergency.

According to Elizabeth Goitein, writing in The Atlantic, “The moment the president declares a ‘national emergency’ - a decision that is entirely within his discretion - more than 100 special provisions become available to him.”

There are legitimate reasons to declare a national emergency. Usually, those reasons are clear and beyond debate - a catastrophic natural disaster, a threat from a foreign nation or war - but, a border wall?

The U.S. Constitution does not address the emergency powers of the president. It does, however, provide emergency powers to Congress. For instance, the Constitution permits Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus - allowing the government to imprison people indefinitely without due process.

However, the lack of authority to act has not stopped presidents from exercising authority they did not have. President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War.

Chief Justice Roger Taney issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. Lincoln didn’t respond, appeal or release any prisoners. Lincoln was defiant, insisting that he needed to suspend the writ in order to save the union.

Five years later, the Supreme Court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that civilians were not subject to military courts, even in times of war.

Lincoln was not the first or last president to ignore the law during times of legitimate crisis. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt following the attack on Pearl Harbor and throughout World War II.

It took the federal government 40 years to address Roosevelt’s abuse of power. Each camp survivor was awarded $20,000 in compensation by the government.

President George W. Bush’s programs of warrantless wiretapping and torture after the 9/11 terrorist attacks have also been acknowledged as an abuse of presidential emergency powers.

Although the courts have often found a way to justify an abuse of executive authority or just look the other way - the High Court, in a ruling out of Youngstown, Ohio, did overturn President Harry Truman’s bid to take over steel mills during the Korean War. This case, having been the exception provides little guidance on the limitations of presidential power.

The Constitution is relatively silent on the issue, but Congress has been anything but quite. Over the past century, Congress has repeatedly passed laws granting the president emergency powers that would otherwise have been reserved to itself.

Lorelei Laird wrote in the ABA Journal that President Trump will use the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to declare his national emergency.

Is there hope that the president’s emergency powers will be held in check?

The U.S. is currently under 31 concurrent states of emergency about a host of international issues, according to a CNN review of documents from the Congressional Research Service and the Federal Register.

The National Emergencies Act is woefully limited. First it doesn’t define what an emergency is and requires only that the president specify the statute under which he’s acting. Second, the Act provides that Congress must meet every six months to vote on whether the emergency declaration is still necessary, a task the Congress has never taken up since the law was enacted.

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book The Executioner’s Toll, 2010 was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewTMangino.
U.S. President Donald Trump declares a National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States.