DPCC Co-Chair Lieu: Trump Is Manufacturing a National Emergency to Deceive the American People
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Ted Lieu, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on Hardball With Chris Mathews on MSNBCto discuss the federal government shutdown created by the President and President Trump's manufactured crisis at the border. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.
"Let me first say my heart goes out to victims of the tragic mass shooting in my hometown of Torrance this weekend. Specifically on your question, I served in the military on active duty. I was a JAG. I studied this issue. It is my opinion that it would be illegal for the President to use military to go build a wall simply by declaring a national emergency…the military members would be following an illegal order, subjecting them to be at risk of violating federal crime. This is a very is a big deal. I hope the President doesn't declare a national emergency to build a wall."
"Our framers were wise and they created three branches of government. I am convinced the courts would stop the President if he declares a national emergency to build a wall. The framers of the constitution gave Congress, specifically the House of Representatives, the power of the purse. The President can't go around that power by making up a national emergency and appropriating funds that Congress specifically didn't authorize. This national emergency is completely made up. If you look at the facts, violent crime is down across the United States, property crime is down, immigrants commit less crime, and border crossings are down. The President will lose in court."
"I believe this would be a step too far, even for conservative jurists on the Supreme Court. again, the House of Representatives alone has the power of the purse. The President can't go around that simply by making up this national emergency. I think the Courts would strike it down, regardless whether they're conservative or liberal."
"Absolutely not. There is a crisis though in health care and infrastructure. That's what Democrats want to work on. Instead, we're having a big distraction of the manufactured crisis that doesn't exist on the southern border. Again, you look at the facts, crime is down, both violent and property crime. Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, commit less crime, and Democrats support border security, we just don't support an inefficient and wasteful fourth century wall. So we can prevent a lot of things happening at the southern border with much more efficient mechanisms. That's why we're having the argument because Trump wants his vanity wall."
"I believe the House of Representatives would sue. In addition, what we have here is the House of Representatives passing two versions to reopen government in terms of bills through the U.S Senate. One last month had wall funding, one last week that didn't have wall funding. So really you have a Republican controlled senate that's not acting on either of the packages, and it is Republican Senators that are just as at fault as the President is in having this unnecessary shutdown that's harming a lot of Americans."
"It could be. And the Supreme Court in 1953 struck down President Truman's national emergency where he tried to seize steel mills, saying you can't just make up a national emergency and do something you couldn't do normally, and we'll see tomorrow. The President may be trying to get a face-saving way out , so he can throw this to the courts. But if he wants to reopen government, that's great. If he wants to reopen government, declare a national emergency, then we have the courts battle it out, that's something I can live with – because we shouldn't be harming all these Americans and national parks and people at risk of losing homes and not getting tax refunds."