President Trump: I have the absolute right to declare a national emergency if we can't make a deal on the border wall
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after signing the anti-human trafficking bill, President Trump says that America will never have border security without the wall.
President Trump dressed down ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl on Wednesday, telling the reporter he wouldn’t make a good commander in chief.
Trump was discussing the government shutdown in the Oval Office after signing an anti-human trafficking bill when Karl asked why the president wouldn’t sign other bills which would allow certain workers to get paid while a solution is negotiated.
“You think I should do that? Do you think I should do that, Jon? I mean, I watch your one-sided reporting,” Trump fired back. Do you think I should do that?”
Karl tried to say it’s not his decision, but Trump didn’t go easy on the ABC News reporter.
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“Hey, Jon. No, seriously, Jon, do you think I should just sign? Tell me, tell me,” Trump said. “Do you think I should just sign?”
Karl responded that if he signed, certain workers would get paid.
Trump fired back, “So you would do that? If you were in my position, you would do it?”
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Karl started to explain that he’s not in President Trump’s position before being cut off.
President Trump dressed down ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl on Wednesday.
“I’m asking you. Would you do that if you were in my position? Because, if you would do that, you should never be in this position,” Trump said. “Because you’d never get anything done. Goodbye, everybody.”
ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The president’s comments come on day 19 of the partial federal government shutdown, which has forced hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors to work without pay, or simply stay home. Numerous government agencies first ran out of funding on Dec. 22, as Democrats vowed to block Trump’s requested $5.7 billion to build the border wall.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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