Radio Recap: BREAKING: President Trump Declares National Emergency

“We fight wars that are 6,000 miles away . . . but we don’t control our own border.”

Those were the words from President Trump in a news conference earlier this morning. We’ve been telling you for some time that President Trump may need to use his executive authority to declare a National Emergency to secure our southern border. Today, he did just that.

Today on the broadcast, we discussed the President’s address during which he declared a National Emergency in the name of protecting America. President Trump stated: “We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border . . . one way or the other, we have to do it.”

The President plans to move $8 billion in unobligated funds toward construction of the wall.

Democrats are claiming this declaration is an abuse of power or unconstitutional. The Left needs to check the facts on the authority of a President to declare a National Emergency.

President Trump is acting fully within his authority – an authority granted BY CONGRESS in the National Emergencies Act of 1976.

Numerous previous Presidents have declared National Emergencies—including President Barack Obama, who declared 12 National Emergencies, 10 of which remain active. Bill Clinton declared 17 National Emergencies, 6 of which are still in effect.

In fact there are currently 31 other active National Emergencies in the United States, one of which was declared by President Jimmy Carter 40 years ago.

Despite historical examples, President Trump made it clear he expects resistance and legal action from the Left to try to stop his plan, but he seems optimistic that ultimately the National Emergency will be upheld by the Supreme Court. 

"So the order is signed. And I'll sign the final papers as soon as I get into the Oval Office. And we will have a national emergency. And we will then be sued. And they will sue us in the 9th Circuit, even though it shouldn’t be there. And we will possibly get a bad ruling, and then we’ll get another bad ruling, and then we’ll end up in the Supreme Court. And hopefully, we'll get a fair shake." And we’ll win in the Supreme Court, just like the ban.”

The bottom line is that drugs, criminals, and human traffickers are pouring into our nation via our inefficiently protected southern border with Mexico. This is a National Emergency and it’s the President’s job to defend our border.

You can read the ACLJ’s legal analysis of the President’s constitutional and statutory authority to declare this National Emergency here.

You can listen to the entire episode here.