Trump says he’ll probably declare national emergency over wall deadlock
A quarter of the federal government has shut down for the 20th day in the standoff
Washington — US President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated that he may declare a national emergency if Congress does not meet his demand for billions of dollars to construct a wall along the US-Mexico frontier. Trump was headed to McAllen, Texas, on the Mexican border in an attempt to win support for his wall a day after another acrimonious meeting with Democrats on funding for the barrier. A quarter of the federal government was shut down for the 20th day in the standoff. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are working without pay or staying home on furlough due to the shutdown, which will be the longest in US history if still under way on Saturday. Trump is demanding that any legislation to end the partial closure must contain $5.7bn for a border barrier.
As he prepared to leave the White House, Trump told reporters, “I have the absolute right to declare a national emergency. I’m not prepared to do that yet but if I have to I will ... I may do it. I this doesn’t wo...
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