Neetu Chandak on February 15, 2019
President Donald Trump said he expects court challenges over declaring a national emergency to secure border wall funding, but pointed out it rarely happens and he should not be sued.
“Look, I expect to be sued,” Trump said at a Friday press conference.
“I shouldn’t be sued,” he continued. “Very rarely do you get sued when you do a national emergency, and then other people say, ‘If you use it for this, now what are we using it for?’ We’ve got to get rid of drugs and gangs and people — it’s an invasion. We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country that we stop, but it’s very hard to stop. With a wall, it would be very easy.”
The National Emergencies Act gives the president a set of special executive powers, like the ability to “seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication.”
Some have raised concerns about whether the executive branch should use the power to achieve a policy outcome.
Trump addressed such concerns, saying it has been done before for other issues.
“And many of those are far less important than having a border,” Trump said. “You don’t have a border, you don’t have a country.”
Even if the executive order goes through a legal process, the president was optimistic about the outcome.
“I think what will happen is sadly, we’ll be sued and sadly it’ll go through a process, and happily we’ll win — I think,” Trump said.
The president signed a congressional bill passed by both chambers Thursday night to prevent a government shutdown. Trump said Thursday, prior to signing the bill, he would declare a national emergency Friday afternoon.
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