Graham to GOP Colleagues: ‘We Do Not Need a War over the Wall’

Monday on Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) discouraged his Republican congressional colleagues from making an issue out of President Donald Trump’s potential decision to declare an emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The South Carolina Republican said an agreement made by the Congress would have been preferred but said he did not see it as a possibility given Democrats’ unwillingness to compromise, and thus Trump is forced to use the emergency declaration, which Graham said argued was legal.

“I think shutting the government down is not a good way to get the wall built,” Graham said. “The best way is to get the wall built is to work with Democrats, if they will work with the Republicans, to build a wall and so some other things. But it doesn’t look like Nancy Pelosi’s going to give Democrats much space. So if I were the president, what I would do is use the power of commander-in-chief to go down to the border, and not just send troops, but actually to erect barriers.”

“What’s the difference between a soldier being sent to secure the border and a soldier being sent to put up a barrier to secure the border?” he added. “Legally none. To my Republican colleagues, we do not need a war over the wall. The Democrats are pushing back to the president — the last thing we need as Republicans is for us to undercut his ability to go it alone if he has to.

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