Trump Responds to Emergency Declaration Lawsuit by Mocking California
President Donald Trump on Tuesday scoffed at the coalition of states that are filing suit against his emergency declaration.
Sixteen states, all with Democratic attorneys general, have challenged the declaration in court, but Trump saved his greatest scorn for California, which Trump said wasted billions on a failed high-speed rail project that cost far more than what a border wall might cost, Fox News reported.
“As I predicted, 16 states, led mostly by Open Border Democrats and the Radical Left, have filed a lawsuit in, of course, the 9th Circuit! California, the state that has wasted billions of dollars on their out of control Fast Train, with no hope of completion, seems in charge!” he tweeted.
As I predicted, 16 states, led mostly by Open Border Democrats and the Radical Left, have filed a lawsuit in, of course, the 9th Circuit! California, the state that has wasted billions of dollars on their out of control Fast Train, with no hope of completion, seems in charge!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2019
“The failed Fast Train project in California, where the cost overruns are becoming world record setting, is hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!” Trump tweeted.
The failed Fast Train project in California, where the cost overruns are becoming world record setting, is hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2019
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that California’s high-speed rail project, originally intended to link the northern and southern parts of the state, was being scaled back. At $77 billion, it is well over budget and years behind schedule, the Sacramento Bee reported.
California was joined by New York and 14 other states in filing suit to block Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over conditions on the southern border. The lawsuit demands an injunction to prevent Trump from using money previously allocated for military construction to the border without specific congressional approval.
The lawsuit also wants Trump’s actions branded illegal.
During a White House ceremony Tuesday, Trump noted that he predicted his declaration would be challenged in court, according to a White House media pool report.
Trump said he had an “absolute right” to declare a national emergency.
“We need strong borders. We have to stop drugs and crime and criminals and human trafficking. And we have to stop all of those things that a strong wall will stop. I could call it a barrier, but I think I don’t have to do that so much anymore. We’ll call it whatever we want.” he said.
Trump accused Congress of playing politics with border funding
“Billions and billions of dollars of illicit things are pouring through our border. And, you know, we talk about points of entry, and one of the things that we do have is a lot of money now from points of entry, because everything was given.
“The money was given — so much that you almost don’t know what to do with it — by Congress. But when it came to the wall, they wanted to hold back because it was politics. That’s all it is,” he said.
Trump said Republicans and Democrats are moving in opposite directions on border security.
“In fact, I hear the Democrats want to take down all walls along the southern border. And if they do that, you’re going to have a very different country,” he said.
“But they’re not going to do that. They wouldn’t. First of all, they won’t do it because they know it’s wrong. They know walls are necessary, maybe more than we do. But they’re playing a political game.”
Trump was upbeat about his chances to win the lawsuit despite the fact that it was filed in the territory covered by the 9th Circuit, where Trump has had few legal victories.
“I actually think we might do very well, even in the 9th Circuit, because it’s an open-and-closed case,” he said.
“I was put here for security — whether it’s Space Force, which we’re doing today, or whether it’s borders. Because if our nation doesn’t have borders, we don’t have too much of a nation, especially when drugs and all of the things that — you know better than anybody what’s happening at the border.
“It’s a bad situation. So I think we’re going to do very well with the lawsuit,” Trump said.
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