:-: President Trump to make his case for a border wall during Oval Office address to the nation :-:
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump will speak to Americans from the Oval Office at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday to address what he says is a crisis along the nation’s southern border. Trump is hoping to put pressure on congressional Democrats to give him $5.7 billion for a border wall and end a budget standoff that has shut down one-quarter of the federal government.
Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, although aides say he hasn’t yet made that decision.
"The president hasn't said he will do that – he said he is considering that," presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters, adding the White House counsel's office is still reviewing the emergency declaration issue.
Aides previewed the Oval Office address in remarks to reporters, in television interviews, and in talks with congressional lawmakers, an effort led by the normally low-profile Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump "will be laying out the facts to the American people of what is a genuine humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border,” Pence told CBS "This Morning," adding that the emergency declaration is still being studied.
If Trump does declare a national emergency, he would do so under the 1976 National Emergencies Act, a move that would theoretically allow him to use defense funds to start wall construction – and an act that would likely inspire a lawsuit by Democrats who say he lacks the legal authority.
First, however, Trump will have to convince Pentagon lawyers that the situation there constitutes a threat to national security – a true national emergency, and not a law enforcement matter, said Todd Harrison, a military budget expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan think tank.
"If we had intelligence that an army was massing on our southern border that would clearly be a national emergency," Harrison said. "That’s clearly not the case here."
Funding for a border wall has been the main sticking point in White House’s negotiations with congressional Democrats to reopen parts of the federal government that have now been closed for 18 days.
A wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was one of Trump’s signature campaign promises. Trump wants $5.7 to build the wall, even though he said repeatedly during his campaign that he would make Mexico pay for the structure. Democrats are refusing to allocate the money, arguing that a wall would be costly, ineffective and – in the words of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – “an immorality.”
The budget standoff triggered a partial government shutdown Dec. 22, shuttering nine federal departments and several smaller agencies and forcing some 800,000 workers to go on unpaid leave or work without pay. The shutdown will enter its 19th day on Wednesday, making it the second-longest in history.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence Trump will attend the Senate GOP Policy lunch on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Trump also is scheduled to follow up his speech with a Thursday trip to the Texas border.
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