A bipartisan group of former national security officials will issue a statement condemning President Donald Trump’s declaration of national emergency, reports The Washington Post .
To be released Monday, the statement has been signed by 58 former senior national security officials, including former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
A number of other prominent former intelligence and national security officials has signed the statement, including President George W. Bush’s State Department Counselor Eliot A. Cohen, President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State John Kelly, Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice, and President George H.W. Bush’s Ambassador to the United Nations Thomas R. Pickering.
The group wrote the following.
“Under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the president to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border.”
The former officials’ statement will also express support for lawsuits and other legal action challenging President Trump’s order. Furthermore, according to the Washington Post — which obtained a copy of the 11-page declaration — the statement disputes the factual basis for Donald Trump’s emergency.
In the statement, the bipartisan group of former national security officials cites Department of Homeland Security statistics which show that illegal border crossings are at a 40-year low.
Moreover, the 11-page resolution cites Trump administration reports showing that the estimated amount of “terrorism” and violent crime at the southern border is not sufficient to declare a national emergency.
The statement also argues, citing Justice Department data, that “the overwhelming majority of opioids” that enter the United States are brought in through ports of entry.
According to the bipartisan group of former national security officials, allocating money to fund the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border “will undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.”
58 ex-national security officials to denounce Trump’s emergency declaration https://t.co/dK6UMdth1G
— POLITICO (@politico) February 25, 2019
It remains to be seen whether this statement will have an impact on President Donald Trump’s decision, but if it is to judge by his reaction to legal and other threats so far, it will not.
The statement will be published Monday, a day before the House of Representatives votes on the resolution to block Trump from declaring a national emergency.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas introduced on February 22 a resolution seeking to block Trump from declaring a national emergency. Two-hundred and twenty-six lawmakers are co-sponsoring it.
“What the president is attempting is an unconstitutional power grab. If the Congress rolls over on this, the president is likely to do it again,” Castro said of Trump’s declaration.
Castro’s resolution will likely not pass the GOP-controlled Senate, but even if it does President Trump will veto it. “Will I veto it? One hundred percent. One hundred percent,” he announced.