President Donald Trump cast doubt on the future of negotiations with Democratic lawmakers in Congress setting the stage for a national emergency declaration on February 15 in a Thursday afternoon interview with The New York Times.
“I’m going to wait until the 15th. I think it’s a waste of time,” Trump declared, adding, “They’ll probably be overly generous with things that you don’t need in terms of money. They’ll give you more money than you need for things that won’t help very much. And they’ll give you money for good things, too. But based on what I hear and based on what I read, they don’t want to give money for the wall.”
A construction crew installs new sections of the U.S.-Mexico border barrier on January 11, 2019 as seen from Tijuana, Mexico. President Donald Trump is holding off from a threatened national emergency declaration to fund a border wall amidst the partial government shutdown. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Trump’s comments come after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi openly said in Congress Thursday morning, “There will not be any wall money in the legislation.”
Trump partially shut down the U.S. government for nearly three weeks in order to try and force Pelosi and Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to come up with a funding agreement for a southern border wall. Democrats, however, remained united in their demand that they would only offer Trump $1.6 billion in border security funding, despite his request for $5.7 billion, which could not be used for the wall.
U.S. President Donald Trump smiles after signing a proclamation announcing big cuts to Utah’s sprawling wilderness national monuments during an event at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., December 4, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Trump said last week he would allow the government to reopen for three weeks while a bi-partisan committee tried to forge a solution to his demand, saying that if they could not come to a solution, he would declare a national emergency and build the wall with military funds. The president maintains his demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.
The president appears to be openly angling for a national emergency declaration in mid-February, telling TheNYT, “I’ve set the stage for doing what I’m going to do.”