United States President Donald Trump will sign a border security bill to avert another government shutdown, but also declare a national emergency to try to obtain funds for his promised US-Mexico border wall, a White House spokeswoman said on Thursday.
“The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country,” she said in a statement.
Sanders added that the president had also agreed to sign a funding bill that lacks money for his wall but prevents another damaging government shutdown.
President Trump’s announcement, expected to be made on Friday, will likely plunge him into a Supreme Court battle against Congress over constitutional powers.
Trump had long floated the possibility of declaring a national emergency, threatening to do so if Congress did not provide him with $5.7 billion for the wall.
“If this doesn’t work out, I probably will do it, I would almost say definitely,” the president said of a national emergency declaration when he visited the border in Texas last month, adding, “If we don’t make a deal, I would say 100 percent, but I don’t want to say 100 percent.”
