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Attorney General William Tong looking to pursue legal action in response to President Trump’s announcement

HARTFORD – Reaction poured in Friday after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on the southern border. It is a move that would get the presiden...

HARTFORD – Reaction poured in Friday after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on the southern border.

It is a move that would get the president money to build a barrier between the United States and Mexico.

Lawmakers in Connecticut have chimed in and said this will affect the state.

The president acknowledged the move will be met with legal challenges. Connecticut’s Attorney General William Tong may be just one of the many to spearhead a lawsuit aiming to block President Trump.

“I expect to be sued. I shouldn’t be sued. Very rarely do you get sued when you do a national emergency,” said President Trump.

The president’s Rose Garden announcement was met with mixed reaction as lawmakers questioned what precedent it sets.

“Take a look at Israel. They’re building another wall. Their wall is 99.9 percent effective they tell me. It’s what would be with us too,” added President Trump.

Here is where the president will pull from to get the 8-billion dollars for a border wall:

  • Almost $1.4 billion from the spending bill
  • $600 million from the Treasury Drug Forfeiture Fund
  • $2.5 billion from the Pentagon’s Drug Interdiction Fund
  • $3.5 billion from the Pentagon’s Military Construction Budget

Tong said he was on the phone all day with attorneys general across the country to respond to the president’s actions.

“We’re preparing imminent legal action,” said Tong.

He said he is worried the president will take money that has been reserved for military construction projects in Connecticut.

“He said in his press conference that he didn’t think he had to do this and then he went off to play golf. If it were such an emergency, we would expect him to say that he had no other option,” added Tong.

Congressman Joe Courtney questioned the president’s choice of words when making his announcement.

“The term ‘emergency’ is vague. They’re diverting money from military construction projects for installations all across the country including Groton which has money in this year’s budget to do pure improvements down there which are very important for the new submarine class,” said Congressman Joe Courtney (D-2).

The president said once the wall is built, the military would not be needed on the southern border.

“One of the things we’d save tremendously – just a tremendous amount would be sending the military. We’d have a wall. We wouldn’t need the military because we’d have a wall,” added President Trump.

Congressman Joe Courtney said the house will vote on it within the 15-day window the National Emergency Act provides. He believes the vote will be overturned, but the president has the power to veto it.

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