Dem House Armed Services Chair: Trump Has the Authority to Use the Military to Build His Wall

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” House Armed Service Committee chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said President Donald Trump does have the authority to declare a national emergency and have the military build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Host George Stephanopoulos asked, “Does President Trump have the ability, have the authority to declare a national emergency and have the military build his wall?”

Smith said, “Well, unfortunately, the short answer is yes. There is a provision in the law that says the president can declare an emergency. It’s been done a number of times, but primarily it’s been done to build facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. In this case, I think the president would be wide open to a court challenge saying, where is the emergency? You have to establish that in order to do this. Beyond that, this would be a terrible use of Department of Defense dollars.”

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