California to Sue Trump Administration: NPR

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (right) and Governor Gavin Newsom said California would sue President Trump against his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border. .

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

hide legend

toggle the legend

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (right) and Governor Gavin Newsom said California would sue President Trump against his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border. .

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

California plans to sue the Trump administration against the president's emergency declaration to fund the construction of a border wall.

Governor Gavin Newsom is joining Attorney General Xavier Becerra to decipher Trump's plan at a press conference on Friday. They also hinted that a multi-state lawsuit against the administration was imminent.

"Donald Trump, we will see each other in court," Newsom said.

"President Trump understood this morning his statement when he said:" I did not have to do that. "He's right, he does not have to do that, in fact, he can not do that," said Becerra. He said the US Constitution gives Congress the power to control how federal dollars are spent, not the president.

Trump 's emergency declaration comes after Congress passed a spending bill that provided only $ 1.375 billion for border security, less than the 5.7 billion. billion requested by the president.

At the announcement of Trump on Friday, he said the statement was necessary "because of a drug invasion by our country, human traffickers, criminals and gangs of all. kinds. " Becerra has already threatened litigation if Trump had declared an emergency.

"The idea of ​​declaring the state of emergency inexistent at the border … pay for the wall is not only immoral, it is illegal," he said last week, after presenting the Spanish democratic response to the state of Trump Union address.

At the press conference on Friday morning, Mr. Becerra said that he thought the president knew that there was no national emergency at the US – Mexican border. "He knows he'll lose in court and he hopes to use the US Supreme Court as a valuable tool to keep his election promise," Becerra said, referring to the president's repeated promises to build a wall.

"The consequences are damaging: damage to Californians, to all Americans," added Becerra.

Newsom said California wanted to work with the Trump administration to address the "legitimate drug crisis" in the country. "I do not want to be a training partner with President Trump, we want to be a working partner," Newsom said. "But it makes it virtually impossible when he plays these games, creates a crisis and creates the conditions in which we have no choice but to sue the administration."

Also Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California issued a statement. The leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, called the statement "illegal".