With Shutdown Talks at Standstill, Trump Declares: "I May Declare National Emergency" to Build Wall

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing the White House for Camp David on January 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chris Kleponis - Pool/Getty Images)

With Shutdown Talks at Standstill, Trump Declares: "I May Declare National Emergency" to Build Wall

President repeats a threat that legal experts argue he has no constitutional (or moral) authority to execute

With negotiations between Congressional Democrats, Republican lawmakers, and President Donald Trump at a deadlock over the president's demand for $5.6 billion to build what he insists is an actual "wall" along the U.S./Mexico border, Trump on Sunday morning again threatened to declare national emergency if he does not get what he wants in the coming days.

"I may declare a national emergency dependent on what's going to happen on the next few days," the president told reporters outside the White House.

Meanwhile, Trump's new acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney admitted just hours earlier on NBC's Meet the Press that negotiations with Democrats over the weekend have gone nowhere. "We're at $5.6 billion. And I think they're at zero," Mulvaney confessed, referencing the $5.6 billion Trump is demanding for his wall.

Since first floating the idea of a national emergency declaration on Friday, legal experts have argued he has no constitutional (or moral) authority to do so, even as reporting from inside the White House indicates Trump has been getting support for the move from right-wing confidants and xenophobic hardliners with whom he discusses policy.

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