The Washington Post Trump makes humanitarian case for wall, calling border situation ‘a crisis of

Trump makes humanitarian case for wall, calling border situation ‘a crisis of the soul’



Felicia Sonmez, John Wagner, Josh Dawsey, Mike DeBonis
5 hrs ago







Video by FOX News


President Trump escalated the battle over his long-promised border wall Tuesday night, using a nationally televised Oval Office address to rally public support and blame Democrats for a partial government shutdown that is now in its third week.

Describing the situation at the border as a “growing humanitarian and security crisis,” Trump urged Congress to give him the $5.7 billion he has repeatedly demanded for the wall.

“This is a humanitarian crisis — a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul,” Trump said. He added that the federal government “remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: because Democrats will not fund border security.”

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In a brief joint response that was carried live by all the major television networks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused Trump of fearmongering and governing by “temper tantrum.”

“The fact is, President Trump has chosen to hold hostage critical services for the health, safety and well-being of the American people and withhold the paychecks of 800,000 innocent workers across the nation — many of them veterans,” Pelosi said. “He promised to keep government shut down for ‘months or years’ — no matter whom it hurts. That’s just plain wrong.”

Democrats have steadfastly resisted Trump’s demand for wall funding, an impasse that has resulted in the shuttering of agencies that account for about a quarter of the federal workforce.

Trump and Vice President Pence will attend Senate Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the White House announced. The eight congressional leaders, meanwhile, are expected to head back to the White House later in the afternoon to meet with Trump and resume talks on ending the shutdown, according to several people familiar with the invitation.

Pelosi said Tuesday that she was not aware of the White House’s invitation, but “whenever there is a meeting, I’ll go.”

“We have a pretty good idea of what our options are. But let’s hope we can come together, get this done and open up government. That’s our goal,” she said.

In a round of television interviews earlier Tuesday, Pence did not rule out the possibility that Trump at some point would declare a national emergency but said repeatedly that the administration is seeking a negotiated solution with Congress.

“You know that we could resolve this in a matter of hours if the Democrats would come to the table and start negotiating in good faith,” Pence said on CBS’s “This Morning.”

Negotiations with congressional staff over the weekend, led by Pence, resulted in little progress, according to Democrats and Republicans alike.

Federal agencies continue to grapple with the effects of the shutdown. On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency notified employees that they will receive half their normal salaries on this week’s payday. The agency had remained open during the first week of the shutdown.

“I want to make sure you all know that we sincerely miss our furloughed colleagues and the talent and expertise that each of you bring to the Agency,” acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler wrote in an email to employees, adding that “understandably, many staff were concerned about the complete lack of another paycheck.”

Democrats had asked networks for rebuttal time Tuesday night, expressing concerns that the president would try to make a case based on falsehoods. In a joint statement Monday night, Pelosi and Schumer said Trump’s address would probably be “full of malice and misinformation” and “Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime.”

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Slide 1 of 49: U.S. President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting on day 12 of the partial U.S. government shutdown at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 2, 2019.

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1/49 SLIDES  Jim Young/Reuters  


A partial US government shutdown began at midnight on Dec. 22, 2018,. when a funding agreement between the Congress and President Trump could not be reached.
(Pictured) President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting on day 12 of the partial U.S. government shutdown at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 2.

2/49 SLIDES  Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Getty Images


U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA 3rd District) speaks during a non-partisan rally protesting the Federal Government Shutdown at Independence Mall, in Philadelphia, on Jan. 8.

3/49 SLIDES  Mark Makela/Getty Images


Furloughed federal workers and area elected officials hold a protest rally in front of Independence Hall on Jan. 8 in Philadelphia.

4/49 SLIDES  Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Getty Images


Furloughed federal workers, joined by elected officials, hold up sings to protest the federal government shutdown during a non-partisan rally at Independence Mall, in Philadelphia, on Jan. 8.

5/49 SLIDES  Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Getty Images


Furloughed federal workers, joined by elected officials, hold up sings to protest the federal government shutdown during a non-partisan rally at Independence Mall, in Philadelphia, on Jan. 8.

6/49 SLIDES  Julio Cortez/AP Photo


Federal Aviation Administration employee Michael Jessie, who is currently working without pay as an aviation safety inspector for New York international field office overseeing foreign air carriers, holds a sign while attending a news conference at Newark Liberty International Airport, on Jan. 8, in Newark, N.J.

7/49 SLIDES  Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Getty Images


Furloughed federal workers, joined by elected officials, hold up sings to protest the federal government shutdown during a non-partisan rally at Independence Mall, in Philadelphia, on Jan. 8.

8/49 SLIDES  Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Getty Images


Furloughed federal workers, joined by elected officials, protest the federal government shutdown during a non-partisan rally at Independence Mall, in Philadelphia, on Jan. 8.

9/49 SLIDES  Kevin Lamarque/Reuters


The dome of the U.S. Capitol is seen beyond a chain fence during the partial government shutdown in Washington, on Jan. 8.

10/49 SLIDES  Mark Makela/Getty Images


(C) David Fitzpatrick, 64, a Park Ranger, holds an American flag and a placard, during a protest rally in front of Independence Hall on Jan. 8 in Philadelphia.

11/49 SLIDES  Mark Makela/Getty Images


Furloughed federal workers and area elected officials hold a protest rally in front of Independence Hall on Jan. 8 in Philadelphia.

12/49 SLIDES  J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo


The Capitol and Washington Monument are seen at dawn as the partial government shutdown lurches into a third week with Trump standing firm in his border wall funding demands, in Washington, on Jan. 7.

13/49 SLIDES  Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images


Aerial view of Trump's border wall prototypes as seen from Tijuana, in Baja California state, Mexico, on Jan. 7.

14/49 SLIDES  Kevin Lamarque/Reuters


A group passes in front of the White House Visitor Center, now closed due to the partial government shutdown in Washington, on Jan. 7.

15/49 SLIDES  Jim Young/Reuters


The entrance to the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art is padlocked as a partial government shutdown continues, in Washington, on Jan. 7.

16/49 SLIDES  Jonathan Ernst/Reuters


Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) addresses the partial federal shutdown with residents of the Pickersgill Retirement Community in Towson, Maryland, on Jan. 7.

17/49 SLIDES  Mike Segar/Reuters


A closed sign is seen on a fence at the General Grant National Memorial, for former President Ulysses S. Grant, as the partial government shutdown continues, in Manhattan, New York City on Jan. 7.

18/49 SLIDES  Erik S Lesser/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock


A Transportation Security Agency (TSA) agent checks the identification of air travelers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Jan. 7.

19/49 SLIDES  J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo


A police officer and K-9 do a routine security check at the Capitol as the partial government shutdown lurches into a third week with President Trump standing firm in his border wall funding demands, in Washington, on Jan. 7.

20/49 SLIDES  Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images


President Trump speaks to the press as he departs the White House in Washington, on Jan. 6, for meetings at Camp David.

21/49 SLIDES  Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images


A pedestrian climbs back over a fence leading to Theodore Roosevelt Island that was closed due to the government shutdown on Jan. 6 in Arlington, VA.

22/49 SLIDES  Joshua Roberts/Reuters


Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Vice President Mike Pence and Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller walk to the West Wing of the White House, on Jan. 5 before a meeting with Congressional staffers about ending the partial government shutdown.

23/49 SLIDES  Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)


People walk past a sign announcing that New York funds are keeping the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island open for visitors on Jan. 5 in New York, as the government shutdown enters its third week.

24/49 SLIDES  Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo


Transportation Security Administration officers work at a checkpoint at O'Hare airport in Chicago, on Jan. 5. The TSA acknowledged an increase in the number of its employees calling off work during the partial government shutdown.

25/49 SLIDES  Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images


President Donald Trump, with Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy, right, speaks at a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, on Jan. 4.

26/49 SLIDES  Jim Young/Reuters


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) speak to reporters following the meeting with President Trump at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 4.

27/49 SLIDES  Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images


President Trump listens as Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, on Jan. 4.

28/49 SLIDES  Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images


Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Secretary for the Majority Laura Dove head to the floor to open the session at the Capitol, on Jan. 4 in Washington. 

29/49 SLIDES  Susan Walsh/AP Photo


Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., is followed by reporters as he returns to Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 4, following a meeting at the White House with President Trump. 

30/49 SLIDES  Evan Vucci/AP Photo


White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks to reporters about the government shutdown outside the White House, on Jan. 4.

31/49 SLIDES  J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo


Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., center, joined at right by Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., pushes back on President Trump's demand to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border with the partial government shutdown in its second week, at the Capitol on Jan. 3.

32/49 SLIDES  J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo


House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., center, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., push back on President Trump's demand for funding to build a wall on the US-Mexico border as the partial government shutdown is in its second week, at the Capitol on Jan. 3.

33/49 SLIDES  Kathy Willens/AP Photo


The Ryan Visitor Center at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, part of the 27,000-acre Gateway National Recreation Area, which encompasses three boroughs of New York and Monmouth County, New Jersey, remained closed, on Jan. 3, in New York, on Day 12 of a partial government shutdown.

34/49 SLIDES  Evan Vucci/AP Photo


White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway speaks to reporters about the government shutdown on Jan. 3 in Washington, D.C.

35/49 SLIDES  Michael Reynolds/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock


Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett speaks to members of the news media on the economy and the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 3.

36/49 SLIDES  Carlos Barria/Reuters


House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks to reporters with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) following a border security briefing with President Trump and congressional leadership at the White House in Washington on Jan. 2.

37/49 SLIDES  Jonathan Ernst/Reuters


U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is surrounded by reporters as he returns from meeting with President Trump and Democratic leaders at the White House, to the Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 2.

38/49 SLIDES  Mark Wilson/Getty Images


Christain Saint-Surin, 7 years-old, of Miami, Florida looks inside the National Museum of African American History that is closed due to the partial shutdown of the U.S. government as it goes into the 12th day, on Jan. 2, in Washington, DC.

39/49 SLIDES  Jim Young/Reuters


President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting on day 12 of the partial U.S. government shutdown at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 2.

40/49 SLIDES  J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo


House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters as he returns to the Capitol from meeting with President Donald Trump about border security and ending the partial government shutdown, in Washington, on Jan. 2.

41/49 SLIDES  Kevin Lamarque/Reuters


The figure of a panda is seen behind a sign telling the public that the National Zoo is closed due to the government shutdown in Washington, on Jan. 2.

42/49 SLIDES  Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images


Garbage overflows a trash can on the National Mall across from the White House on Jan. 1 due to the government shutdown.

43/49 SLIDES  Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo


A closed sign is displayed at The National Archives entrance in Washington on Jan. 1, as a partial government shutdown stretches into its third week.

44/49 SLIDES  Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images


The Smithsonian and U.S. flags fly in front of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Jan. 1. All Smithsonian museums will be closed Wednesday due to the government shutdown.

45/49 SLIDES  Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo


Visitors take their pictures at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Jan. 1, as a partial government shutdown stretches into its third week. 

46/49 SLIDES  Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images


While the Lincoln Memorial remains open to visitors, some facilities are closed due to the government shutdown on Jan. 1.

47/49 SLIDES  Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo


Visitors walk at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, on Dec. 31.

48/49 SLIDES  Erik S Lesser/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock


Capitol Police officers patrol the quiet hallways near the entrance to the Senate at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Dec. 31.

49/49 SLIDES  Joshua Roberts/Reuters


President Trump is applauded by members of Congress and other attendees as he says he will not answer questions from reporters about an impending U.S. Government shutdown during a bill signing ceremony for the “First Step Act” and the “Juvenile Justice Reform Act” in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on Dec. 21.

49/49 SLIDES
Slideshow by photo services


Others were planning appearances Tuesday night as well. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a potential 2020 White House candidate, was set to deliver a response to Trump’s speech that would be streamed online.

As Trump prepared to make a public appeal, top White House officials, including senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, were working the phones to gain leverage with Congress. But Democrats maintained that no progress had been made.

“We are in the same place we were last Friday,” a senior Democratic aide said.

Trump also met with surrogates on Monday to urge them to keep up their TV appearances arguing for the wall, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Trump is considering invoking the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to declare an emergency, activating executive authorities including the reprogramming of some Defense Department funds.

One possibility under consideration is to negotiate with Democrats for the next few days, then declare a national emergency to end the shutdown, according to a person with direct knowledge of the president’s thinking.

Ahead of Trump’s speech, pressure to end the shutdown continued to mount. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday urging Congress and the Trump administration to reopen the government, throwing its support behind a deal that would combine border security measures with protections for “dreamers” brought here illegally as children and those in the temporary protected status program.

“The shutdown is harming the American people, the business community, and the economy,” Neil Bradley, the group’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, said in the letter.

The bipartisan group that represents the nation’s governors also penned a letter to Trump and congressional leaders. The letter from the National Governors Association, dated Monday, cited negative effects on federal workers and state economies and decried the use of a government shutdown to gain leverage in unresolved policy disagreements.

“It is imperative that you reopen the government now and, then, reach across the aisle to find a solution that will end the current impasse,” said the letter, signed by the National Governors Association chair and vice chair, Govs. Steve Bullock (D-Mont.) and Larry Hogan (R-Md.), on behalf of the group, which represents the 55 governors of U.S. states and territories.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, which represents most of the 800,000 affected federal workers as well as thousands of furloughed contractors, said Tuesday that his members want the shutdown to end but do not want to see Democrats yield to Trump’s demands on the wall.

“They want the government opened, and they want to get back to work, but they think that the president is responsible because he backed out of a deal that was there that everybody had agreed to, and it didn’t have to happen,” Trumka said in an interview.

Pelosi has planned a new series of votes on a piecemeal reopening of the government, beginning with the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service. This week’s votes will put Republicans in a particularly difficult position because they will spotlight the issue of whether millions of Americans will have trouble receiving tax refund checks.

“There is an opportunity for every American to see who wants government open, and our responsibility is not to do what the president of the United States tells us to do,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday. “Our responsibility is to do what we think is in the best interest of the American people and the effective and efficient operations of their government.”

Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a televised address to the nation from his desk in the Oval Office about immigration and the southern U.S. border on the 18th day of a partial government shutdown at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria  Hoyer also said that he does not believe Trump has the authority to direct the military to construct a border wall without congressional consent, even with an emergency declaration, and could wind up abusing his powers.

“I think it is analogous to governments that we’ve seen all over the world declaring martial law and justifying them in doing whatever they wanted to do to whomever they wanted to do it whenever they wanted to do it,” Hoyer said. “We don’t think that’s the American way. We don’t think that’s the constitutional way.”

“There is no crisis,” Hoyer added. “There is no invasion. There is no clear and present danger.” He left open the possibility that congressional Democrats could sue Trump in a bid to block construction.

The idea of using the military to build the wall has not been universally embraced by Republicans.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (Tex.), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday that he opposes using military construction money under an emergency declaration.

“In short, I’m opposed to using defense dollars for nondefense purposes,” Thornberry said.

He added that he thinks border security is “very important.” But “it is not a responsibility of the Department of Defense.”

One Democrat being lobbied by Kushner — Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) — said he would not oppose a declaration of a national emergency by Trump if that means the president would allow the shuttered parts of federal government to reopen.

“If that’s what it takes, if he wants to declare a national emergency, it’ll be fought out in the courts,” Manchin said in an interview Tuesday. “I’m okay with that, and let it be fought out in the courts.”

During Tuesday’s television interviews, Pence was pressed about false or questionable claims Trump has made in advocating for a wall, including that former presidents told him they wanted to build one and that former president Barack Obama has a 10-foot wall around his house in Washington.

All four living ex-presidents have denied making such a comment, and there is no 10-foot wall around Obama’s house.

Experts have also said Trump and other administration officials have significantly overstated the security threat posed by terrorists attempting to cross the southern border.

felicia.sonmez@washpost.com

john.wagner@washpost.com

josh.dawsey@washpost.com

mike.debonis@washpost.com

Seung Min Kim, Erica Werner, Robert Costa, Juliet Eilperin and Philip Rucker contributed to this report.




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