reporter: even some republicans like lamar alexander calling the declaration and necessary, unwise and inconsistent with the u.s. constitution. donald trump had an answer for those accusing him of making up a crisis at the border. what do you say to your critics who say you are creating a national emergency and concocting a national emergency to get your wall. do you think i m creating something? ask these incredible women who lost their daughters and sons, okay? because your question is a very political question because you have an agenda. reporter: donald trump was referring to all the angel families in attendance at today s announcement. some later approached the cnn correspondent who asked that question and he invited them to share their stories on live tv. my only son, ronald, who was murdered by an illegal alien. we need to secure the border to protect american citizens.
put out a statement saying they are shocked and saddened by the events of today and all their focus is on the health and well-being of their colleagues. shannon: donald trump is declaring a national emergency in order to build a border wall because of what he calls an invasion from the south and the lawsuits are queuing up as we expected. kristin fisher has this story. reporter: already the house judiciary committee has launched an investigation into this emergency declaration and the aclu says it will sue donald trump, donald trump predicted all that when he made the announcement in the rose garden. we will have a national emergency and we will then be sued and they will sue us in the ninth circuit even though it shouldn t be there and we will possibly get a bad ruling and we will get another bad ruling and we will end up in the supreme court and hopefully we will get
how do you address this? the left will say there isn t an emergency but to these people they suffered tremendous losses very much. a real crisis in their lives. i agree and they deserve all the love and respect they should be getting. i understand too in some respects what i think we are seeing from the executive side is a reflection of the gridlock on the legislative side. this isn t anything new, donald trump isn t doing anything new, donald trump president obama issued similar executive actions. the challenge is the president setting from obama and trump and moving forward which over the next administration is, how willingly they do these things from climate change to any other issue. you make a point because the president said many other national emergency 7 declared, many still in effect right now, several previous presidents, not
get closer to the 2020 election. as donald trump works with his team to build a wall on the texas border several democrats are on record saying what goes up must come down. would you take the wall down now here? absolutely. a new position from beto o rourke, former texas congressman who represented el paso. he double down on his comments on it to milwaukee. we were safe before the wall in el paso, we were safe after there was a wall. we are slightly less safe after the wall was built in the el paso sector of the us-mexico border. reporter: his comments became questions for other presidential candidates. i could look and see which party means and why and if it makes sense i could supported. reporter: other candidates i kamala harris denounced new construction but stop short of calling for dismantling of the current border wall. bringing down existing
a fair shake and when in the supreme court. donald from freed up $8 billion for his border wall on top of the nearly $1.4 billion deal just approved by congress and signed by the president today. we are talking an invasion of our country with drugs, human traffickers, all types of criminals and gangs. reporter: democrats are accusing him of fabricating an emergency. in a letter to donald trump tonight they say we believe your declaration of an emergency shows reckless disregard for the separation of powers and your own responsibilities under our constitutional system. the letter points to one statement in particular in which donald trump himself seemed to indicate the emergency declaration was not necessary. i didn t need to do this but i would rather do it much faster.