(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday there's a “good chance” he'll declare a national emergency on the U.S. southern border but told them to wait until his State of the Union address on Feb. 5.
“We haven't declared a national emergency yet,” he said at the White House. “I don't want to say,” he added, before advising reporters to wait until the speech. Later, he said there was a “good chance” he would declare an emergency at some point.
Trump once again called a congressional conference committee debating border security a “waste of time” and said his administration was proceeding with the construction of 115 miles of wall on the border with Mexico using money “on hand.” The conference committee is trying to agree to compromise legislation between Democrats, Republicans and the White House in order to avoid another government shutdown after Feb. 15.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to declare a national emergency on the border, which he says would allow him to transfer money from elsewhere in the government to build his promised border wall without congressional approval. House Democrats have threatened to sue over such a move.
To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Mike Dorning
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