Prez’s right ‘absolute’
Will triumph over suit challenge?
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared Tuesday he’d prevail over a multistate lawsuit challenging his emergency declaration to pay for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he expected to do “very well” against the suit, adding that he had an “absolute right” to make the declaration.
“I think in the end we’re going to be very successful with the lawsuit,” Trump said, arguing that the opposition was political.
A group of 16 states, including California, New York and Colorado, filed a lawsuit Monday against Trump’s emergency declaration.
The lawsuit filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco alleges Trump’s declaration is unconstitutional.
All the states involved in the lawsuit have Democratic attorneys general.
Using a broad interpretation of his executive powers, Trump declared an emergency last week to obtain wall funding beyond the $1.4 billion US Congress approved for border security.
The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.
Democrats have seized on the move as an example of executive overreach.
The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a press release Tuesday that stated: “No one is above the law. Republicans must join Democrats to uphold the Constitution and stand with the American people — against the president’s brazen assault.”
Trump argued Tuesday the wall was needed to “stop drugs and crime and criminals and human trafficking.”