Trump admitted during his comments after an immigration briefing that he is planning on taking disaster relief funds from California for his wall.
Trump said, “Congress should do this. This is too simple. It is too basic. And Congress should do this. If they can do it if at some point they can’t do it, this is a 15-minute meeting, if they can’t, I will declare a national emergency. I have the absolute right to do it. It says as clear as you can. What will happen, I will be sued, it will be brought to the Ninth Circuit, and maybe the wording is unambiguous, we will probably lose there, too, and hopefully, we will win in the Supreme Court. That is what happens. You can take the most perfectly worded document as we have in this case, and they will always bring it to the ninth circuit, and you never know what will come out of it or come out of the appeal, but we have a supreme court that has treated us very fairly. I would rather not do it because this is something that Congress should easily do. This is something that the Democrats should do.”
Video:
This is the kind of "crisis" that can wait until Congress gets back on Monday according to Trump. pic.twitter.com/bo4KBdmU5T
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— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 11, 2019
Laurence Tribe immediately saw where Trump was going when he referenced the Ninth Circut:
MEMO TO @AGBecerra & @GavinNewsom:Trump’s reference to being sued in the 9th Circuit suggests — assuming he knows where the 9th is — that he’s planning to steal disaster relief funds from CALIFORNIA to build his 300 new miles of border wall when he declares a national emergency.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) January 11, 2019
Of course, Trump wouldn’t take disaster relief money away from Texas or North Carolina. He needs their votes in 2020, but he could win points with his base and Fox News if he took the money away from liberal California.
Trump has already complained that the wildfires are due to “mismanagement,” so it isn’t a surprise that he would make a move on funds that were appropriated and earmarked for California disaster relief.
New Gov. Newsom better get ready to sue, because Trump is going to pay for his wall with an illegal theft of funds from victims of California’s wildfires.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
