Trump Declared The Border Emergency ‘To Fulfill The Campaign Promise’ – Talking Points Memo

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) acknowledged Sunday that President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to secure more funds for a border wall was a fulfillment of a campaign promise.

“The President said, ‘This is such a grave problem, I need more money to build more wall, and to fulfill the campaign promise that I told the American people I was going to do,’” Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, told ABC “This Week” host Martha Raddatz in an interview.

.@Jim_Jordan: Trump declared a national emergency “to fulfill the campaign promise that [he] told the American people [he] was going to do.” pic.twitter.com/zlm4Vmg44f

— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) February 17, 2019

In justifying Trump’s declaration, Jordan pointed to the groups of migrants and asylum seekers who’ve formed caravans to more safely make the trek from Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“How many caravans do we need?” he wondered. “Six? Seven? Or just an endless caravan that never stops?”

He also pointed to a recent drug bust of “enough Fentanyl to kill 57 million Americans.”

Raddatz broke down both justifications: Illegal border crossings are at a multi-decade low, she noted, and the Fentanyl interdiction Jordan mentioned occurred at a port of entry.

“Come on, so you don’t think drugs are coming across where there aren’t border patrol agents?” Jordan responded, adding: “Everyone knows a wall will help.”

Earlier in the interview, Jordan couldn’t name an example of an instance where, in Raddatz’s words, “a President asked for something Congress rejected, and the President went ahead and said he would do it anyway.”

Trump repeatedly claimed during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall, a pledge he essentially abandoned once taking office.