Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) just
discovered a loophole that could allow Trump to bypass Congress and build the
border wall but most importantly, he can do it without having to declare a
national emergency.
You can hear Nancy Pelosi howl for she has made the wall Trump’s Alamo and she wants to wreck his presidency on it.
You can hear Nancy Pelosi howl for she has made the wall Trump’s Alamo and she wants to wreck his presidency on it.
Under Secretary of Defense
for Policy John Rood admitted under questioning by Mo Brooks during a House
Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday that Trump can indeed build the wall
without calling for a national emergency.
It is unclear if the GOP will
go along with a national emergency or if the courts would allow it so this is a
great solution.
You just know Pelosi was not
happy when she heard this exchange that details how Trump can go it alone
and get the wall:
BROOKS: I want to direct your attention to 10 United States Code § 284 which authorizes President Trump to deploy the United States military to the southern border to build fences and to do a lot of other things, and for clarity, if you look it up in the dictionary the word fence includes the word barrier and the word barrier includes walls made of a wide variety of different materials.
BROOKS: I want to direct your attention to 10 United States Code § 284 which authorizes President Trump to deploy the United States military to the southern border to build fences and to do a lot of other things, and for clarity, if you look it up in the dictionary the word fence includes the word barrier and the word barrier includes walls made of a wide variety of different materials.
So that having been said, it
seems to me that 10 U.S. Code § 284 can be used by the President of the United
States to direct the United States military to build a wall. Now as of today,
you’ve mentioned military forces along the southern border, have any of them
been deployed pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 284?
ROOD: Congressman, I don’t
believe any of our forces have been deployed pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 284. You
are correct, however, that that use of authority would authorize the secretary
of defense to erect barriers, roads, fencing, those types of materials to
disrupt drug smuggling.
BROOKS: Does 10 U.S.C. § 284 as you understand it, require the declaration of a national emergency before it is implemented?
BROOKS: Does 10 U.S.C. § 284 as you understand it, require the declaration of a national emergency before it is implemented?
ROOD: No.
BROOKS: It does not?
ROOD: No.
BROOKS: Has President Trump,
to your knowledge, ever used 10 U.S.C § 284 to direct the military to build the
wall that is necessary for border security?
ROOD: No, not to my
knowledge, Congressman.
BROOKS: If President Trump
were to direct the Pentagon and the United States military pursuant to 10 U.S.C
§ 284 to build such barriers as are necessary to secure our southern border
from drug trafficking and international crime cartels would the United States
military obey that order?
ROOD: If we judge it to be a
lawful order, yes sir. And I assume it would be.
