President Trump signs his first veto

Trump signs veto
Trump vetoes national emergency resolution
01:05 - Source: CNN

What we covered here

  • Trump’s first veto: The President held a public event to veto a resolution blocking his national emergency. It’s the first veto of presidency.
  • Senate and House passed: Both chambers of Congress passed the resolution. In the Senate, 12 Republicans joined Democrats in voting for it.
  • What happens next: Lawmakers don’t have enough votes to override the veto.
  • About the emergency: Trump declared a national emergency last month in order to unlock federal funds to build a wall on the southern border, bypassing Congress for the funding.
14 Posts

Our live coverage of President Trump’s veto event has concluded. Scroll through the posts below to see how it unfolded.

DHS chief thanks Trump for veto

Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen just thanked President Trump for his veto:

Read Trump's official veto message to Congress

President Trump signed the first veto of his presidency earlier today, rejecting a measure that would reverse that national emergency he declared on the southern border.

Moments later, Trump sent a message to the House of Representatives outlining his decision for the veto.

Read his full statement:

Here's what construction is currently underway at the border

Much of what Customs and Border Protection has been working on along the border is replacement barrier.

According to CBP, the agency used fiscal year 2017 funds to construct “approximately 38 of 40 miles of wall in place of outdated designs in San Diego and El Centro, California, Santa Teresa, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas.”

A CBP official said “this barrier replaced dilapidated infrastructure, half of which was Normandy-style vehicle barrier.” Vehicle barriers are low to the ground. It would stop a car, but people can easily step over it.

CBP also said construction has “started on the San Diego Secondary replacement, the first project funded in FY 2018,” adding that “the first new wall project, where no barrier currently exists, is anticipated to start in April in Hidalgo County of the Rio Grande Valley Sector.”

The spending bill passed in February included $1.375 billion for approximately 55 miles of new barriers in the Rio Grande Valley sector. 

House will vote on March 26 on veto override

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote on March 26 on a measure to override President Trump’s veto.

Note: Lawmakers hardly have the votes to approve it.

“The House and Senate resoundingly rejected the President’s lawless power grab, yet the President has chosen to continue to defy the Constitution, the Congress and the will of the American people,” Pelosi said in a statement.

She continued:

Trump says he signed veto to block "reckless" resolution passed by both House and Senate

Telling reporters at a veto signing ceremony that “the protection of the nation is my highest duty,” President Trump described the resolution blocking his national emergency declaration — which passed both houses of Congress — as “dangerous,” claiming it put “countless Americans in danger.”

He added:

Attorney General says national emergency on border is legal

Attorney General Bill Barr defended President Trump’s national emergency declaration as legal during a veto ceremony in the Oval Office today.

Barr said the measure was “clearly authorized under the law” after Congress voted to reverse it.

Barr said the southern border situation was precisely the type of situation that would warrant a national emergency.

Trump just signed the veto

President Trump has signed the first veto of his presidency, rejecting a measure that would reverse that national emergency he declared on the southern border.

We are waiting for video footage of the signing.

Justice Department defends Trump's authority to declare national emergency

The Justice Department set forth a robust defense of the President’s authority to declare a national emergency in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this month, according to a copy obtained by CNN. 

The letter set out the legal basis for the proclamation under the National Emergencies Act and additional statutory authorities, which largely tracks an internal memo issued by the Office of Legal Counsel at DOJ. 

“The President’s emergency Proclamation reasonably described the current situation as an ongoing ‘border security and humanitarian crisis,’” Boyd added. “The crisis at the border … may qualify as an emergency even though it, too, is not entirely new.”

ANY MOMENT: Trump to sign his first veto

President Trump will soon officially veto the national emergency resolution, the first of his presidency. He may take questions from reporters after.

Here's what Trump's national emergency order does

President Trump is expected to soon veto a congressional resolution that blocks his national emergency declaration.

Here’s what the emergency declaration is all about: The order — which Trump declared last month — unlocks billions of dollars in federal funds to build a wall on the southern border. It effectively bypassed Congress after lawmakers refused to meet Trump’s multi-billion dollar request for border wall funds.

The President declared the national emergency even as he agreed to sign a spending bill from Congress that allocated $1.375 billion for the President to build 55 miles of new fencing.

The additional executive actions he is undertaking aim to redirect more than $6 billion in federal funds toward the construction of hundreds more miles of border barriers — bringing total funding for the wall to nearly $8 billion.

Lawmakers don't have enough votes to override Trump's veto

Both the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-majority Senate voted in favor of a resolution blocking President Trump’s national emergency declaration.

The vote was was 245-182 in the House and 59-41 in the Senate, where 12 Republicans joined Democrats in voting to block Trump’s order.

But remember: Lawmakers don’t have enough votes to override a veto from the President.

Nevertheless, passage of the resolution in the Senate is an embarrassing blow to Trump delivered by his own party over the President’s top campaign pledge of a wall at the US-Mexico border.

Trump to GOP senators who voted with him: Your states "will LOVE you more than ever before!"

President Trump is tweeting about yesterday’s Senate vote to block his national emergency, which unlocked federal funding for his long-promised border wall.

He suggested that the senators who voted with him will benefit politically (Remember: 12 Republicans joined Democrats in voting to block the emergency.)

“I’d like to thank all of the Great Republican Senators who bravely voted for Strong Border Security and the WALL,” he tweeted. “Watch, when you get back to your State, they will LOVE you more than ever before!”

Trump will veto the national emergency resolution at 3:30 p.m.

A White House official says that President Trump will veto the national emergency resolution at 3:30 p.m. ET at an event in the Oval Office today.

It will be the first veto of his presidency.

The resolution of disapproval passed overwhelmingly in the Senate Thursday, with 12 GOP senators voting for the measure — and against President Trump’s emergency declaration.

About the national emergency: President Trump declared a national emergency last month in order to unlock federal funds to build a wall on the southern border, bypassing Congress for the funding.

GO DEEPER

Senate passes resolution to overturn Trump’s national emergency declaration
Trump expected to sign first veto of his presidency
Tracking the legal challenges to Trump’s emergency declaration
An interrupted dinner followed by a rebuke: How GOP senators failed to stop the emergency resolution vote

GO DEEPER

Senate passes resolution to overturn Trump’s national emergency declaration
Trump expected to sign first veto of his presidency
Tracking the legal challenges to Trump’s emergency declaration
An interrupted dinner followed by a rebuke: How GOP senators failed to stop the emergency resolution vote