March 14, 2019

Day 784: Sending a signal.

4 minutes

1/ The Senate voted to overturn Trumpâ€™s national emergency declaration at the southern border, setting up Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency. The resolution passed 59-41 â€“ with 12 Republicans joining every Democrat. The measure, which already passed the House, now heads to Trump, who has promised to veto the legislation and effectively kill it. Lawmakers donâ€™t have enough votes to override a veto. Ahead of the vote, Trump warned Republicans that â€œa vote for todayâ€™s resolution by Republican Senators is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, Crime, and the Open Border Democrats!â€� After the vote, Trump tweeted: â€œVETO!â€� (New York Times/ CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / Reuters / NBC News)

ğŸ“Œ Day 757: Trump declared a national emergency at the border to circumvent Congress and fund his border wall with money lawmakers refused to give him, saying â€œI didnâ€™t need to do this,â€� but â€œI just want to get it done faster, thatâ€™s all.â€� In a Rose Garden news conference, Trump said he would sign the declaration to divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to his border wall and then use presidential budgetary discretion to redirect $2.5 billion from counternarcotics programs and another $600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund. Between the $1.375 billion authorized for fencing in a spending package passed by Congress, and the roughly $6.5 billion in funding from executive action, Trump is will have about $8 billion to construct or repair as many as 234 miles of a border barrier â€“ significantly more than the $5.7 billion that Congress refused to give him. Following the news conference, Trump signed the spending legislation. (New York Times / The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)

2/ The House voted 420-0 for the public release of Robert Muellerâ€™s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired then-director of the FBI James Comey. While the resolution is non-binding and the House...

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