After holding the government hostage for five weeks, President Donald Trump is still threatening to shut down the government again if Congress fails to approve more than $5 billion in funds for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump is looking for alternative ways to get funding for his wall such as declaring a national emergency. Some of his top aides have warned against such an action, seeing that it would circumvent Congress and create a constitutional crisis.
However, Trump tweeted that the wall will be built "one way or the other."
Large sections of WALL have already been built with much more either under construction or ready to go. Renovation… https://t.co/xGEqUibJmX— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1548936797.0
However, Trump could be walking into a "trap" if he calls a national emergency and might end up splitting the GOP in the process, according to a report from Vanity Fair.
"While Mulvaney, Kushner, and a fleet of White House lawyers are scrambling to build a legal justification for Trump to expand his emergency powers, Republicans on the Hill are wary of the precedent he might set," a report from Vanity Fair said.
If Trump decided to declare a national emergency it could ignite a "political backlash."
"We’re pretty uniformly opposed to an emergency declaration. That is taking that emergency act beyond where it’s ever been before. We don’t like it. We don’t want to set that precedent,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Politico.
A former senior administration official told Politico, “It could be seen as subverting the Constitution for his own ego, and it will be the end of his presidency."
Lawmakers have until February 15th to end negotiations before the government shuts down again.
