McConnell reportedly warned Trump that Congress might nix his border wall emergency declaration


Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) cautioned President Trump against declaring a national emergency to obtain funding for border wall construction without congressional support, The Washington Post reported Friday night.
McConnell spoke with Trump at a private meeting at the White House on Tuesday, the Post story says, citing two unnamed Republican sources. The senator reportedly said such a declaration would split the GOP and hurt the president's political fortunes, and that Congress could well pass a resolution opposing the declaration, forcing Trump to choose between accepting the rebuke or vetoing a bill significantly supported by his own party.
Trump on Friday told reporters there is still a "good chance" he'll "have to" make the national emergency declaration, suggesting he might announce it during Tuesday's State of the Union address. Read more about national emergencies past and present here at The Week.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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