this isn t ideological. this could be in a few years whether president bernie sanders can take $100 bil and give it out for congress without giving it to congress, and there s a constitutional issue. senator, i m excited to say i m not letting you go. we re going to keep you around for your first fallback friday in a few minutes. i m going to fit in a quick 30-second break when i have malcolm nance talk about this question, what does putin have on trump, and donald trump s wild day undermining his call for an emergency when we re back in 30. to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it s best to make you everybody else. means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. does this sound dismal? it isn t. it s the most wonderful life on earth.
emergency act, because everyone is now catching up on it. this is the first time since the national emergencies act became law the court will consider this core question of whether a president can declare a national emergency that does not exist by any available metric, legal experts tell the washington post, that s his tweet about it. is that overstated or is your few that nobody has ever pushed it so far that we have gotten this kind of ruling? so, the national emergencies act has been invoked probably about five dozen times, and there are about 31 emergencies that are still left on the books. but they re typically situations involving foreign governments, and the emergency steps that were taken are things like seizing foreign assets or property claims. building a wall, reappropriated funds that congress denied the president has never been part of that. this is a clear separation of powers issue. and it s a real threat to democracy. this is not hyperbole. this is a major power gr
history. he s now been a former president for a record 38 years. so that is our broadcast for a friday night and for this week. thank you so very much for being here with us. have a good weekend. good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. another mueller friday. as mueller s prosecutors win a new ruling to gag roger stone. that just happened. and it s big. mueller also dropping the hammer on paul manafort. he s making a new push asking the federal judge to sentence manafort to prison immediately. those developments obviously ominous for several trump figures in the russia probe and they come as president trump used this ramabling and bizarre press conference, and i say that even by 2019 standards, to claim a, quote, national emergency at the border while also undermining himself. that s a story i mentioned with chuck and we ll cover it later on tonight. we begin with today s ruler against trump s longtime adviser roger stone.
donald trump s headed down to mar-a-lago in florida. obviously that s a thing you do during a national emergency. trump s also given a rose garden announcement that i can only factually describe as rambling and at times illogical because it did undermine the core purpose of the presentation that there would be an emergency. i have some great guests, so let s get right to it. starting with lieutenant colonel ralph peters. first of all, good evening, sir. always nice to have you on a friday. good to talk to you. good to talk to you. is this as a national security matter, apart from what people think about immigration, does it look like a national security emergency to you? no, not an emergency. certainly, the border is a matter of national security, but to describe the current situation as an emergency is an utter travesty. and ari, you re the lawyer here. you know that the supreme court is probably going to have to resolve this. and by the way, something i haven t heard people tal
things seriously even if people no power don t. so folks who watch the show know we try to just deal with the evidence. i m not here to make a lot of judgment calls about how donald trump talks and all that kind of stuff. but let me play for you something that is happening in this statecraft as he tries to seize billions of dollars. this was how he made the case today. take a look. 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 then we ll getting another bad ruling. and then wheel end up in the supreme court. and hopefully we ll get a fair shake and we ll win in the supreme court. what does that say to you, trying to take it seriously over whether he understands and upholds the obligations of his office, given how serious this is and how many people s lives it affects. the constitutional dimensions. people at the border, the