Monday on CNN’s “New Day,” former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), who also served as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee while in the U.S. House, argued President Donald Trump was on “solid ground” legally.
According to Rogers, also a CNN contributor, if a court stepped in, it would overturn other prior presidential emergency orders.
“If I listened to Mitch McConnell correctly, he said if it is legal I will support it,” Rogers said. “So that was his couching, I think, of a position he didn’t want to find himself in. Here’s the problem: Legally, I think the president is on pretty solid ground. There’s been 70 of these national emergencies. Something like 37 are still in effect by a whole variety of presidents. And the law is not very clear on what a national emergency is. It will be really hard for the court to step in and then overstep all of those 70 other decisions and Congress specifically giving this authority. That said, I think politically is the price the president pays on this.”
“He must think this fight is worth having. I don’t. I think there’s better ways to get there. There will be something like $8 billion worth of unobligated appropriated funds — $8 billion. You get into the fall, right, you can start capturing that money by reprogramming and sitting down and talking to people. I know the Democrats aren’t in that mood, either. But that’s the way it’s supposed to work as opposed to this ugly fight for the next months. I’m just not sure you win the political argument.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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