U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is calling on President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency and build a border wall now.
Graham issued a statement following a one-on-one meeting with the President at the White House Friday. Saying Democrats won't work the president, Graham said the president should bypass Congress with his emergency powers.
"It’s clear to both of us that Democrats don’t want to make a deal and will never support border wall/barriers on President Trump’s watch, even though they did so in the past.
“They hate President Trump more than they want to fix problems — even problems they acknowledged to be real and serious in the past. Democrats will do everything in their power to defeat Trump in 2020.
“Mr. President, declare a national emergency now. Build a wall now.”
But President Trump said Friday while it would be easy for him just to declare a national emergency and find federal money to build a barrier along the southern border, but he's not going to be so quick to do that because he thinks lawmakers can do it.
Trump spoke during a discussion Friday at the White House with state, local and community leaders about border security and safe communities.
The president says the "easy solution is for me to call a national emergency ... but I'm not going to do it so fast."
Trump says, "This is something that Congress can do."
Attendees included state attorneys general, local elected leaders, faith leaders and federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.