After agreeing to reopen the government without Mexico border wall funds, President Trump said Friday that he will “obviously” declare a national emergency if there’s no deal to fund the project.
Trump used more definitive language on the prospect of a national emergency during an afternoon meeting with Hispanic pastors than he had during an earlier scripted Rose Garden address, in which he announced a temporary end to the 35-day spending fight.
“We’ll work with the Democrats and negotiate and if we can’t do that, then we’ll do a — obviously we’ll do the emergency because that’s what it is. It’s a national emergency,” Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room.
Between the two events, Trump had been on the receiving end of criticism from some conservatives that he had folded to the Democrats.
“Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States,” tweeted Ann Coulter.
Throughout the more than monthlong shutdown, Trump vacillated between threatening to declare an emergency to build the wall and declaring that Democrats in Congress have to support wall funds, which they have refused to do.
Trump intends to sign a three-week spending bill Friday evening temporarily ending the shutdown, which caused missed paychecks for more the 800,000 workers.
“He knew that it was a lost cause,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., jeered on Friday afternoon.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters her position had not changed on supporting funds for Trump’s signature 2016 campaign promise.
“Have I not been clear on the wall?” Pelosi said at a press conference.
