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A 'depressed' Lindsey Graham says Trump should use emergency powers to build the wall
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A 'depressed' Lindsey Graham says Trump should use emergency powers to build the wall

'I just don't see a pathway forward'

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said President Donald Trump should use national emergency powers to fund the border wall, after initially questioning the legality and wisdom of such a move, according to CNN.

Negotiations between Trump and congressional Democrats over how to reopen the government and whether to fund a wall on the U.S. southern border have gone nowhere, leading Graham to believe there are no other options.

"Speaker Pelosi's refusal to negotiate on funding a border wall/barrier—even if the government were to be reopened—virtually ends the congressional path to funding for a border wall/barrier," Graham said in a statement. "It is time for President Donald Trump to use emergency powers to fund the construction of a border wall/barrier."

Graham made it clear he was not happy about this reality.

"I think we're stuck," Graham said, according to Politico. "I just don't see a pathway forward. I don't see a way forward. I have never been more depressed about moving forward than I am right now. I just don't see a pathway forward."

Trump has already said he will "probably" use emergency powers to build the wall if Congress doesn't agree on a bill to include wall funding, which at this point seems unlikely.

"If this doesn't work out, probably I will do it, I would almost say definitely," Trump said. "This is a national emergency."

Declaring a national emergency is by no means a quick and easy path toward a border wall. Legislators on both sides agree that using emergency powers for the wall would spur legal challenges, and even Republicans have doubts about whether the need for a wall can be considered an emergency.

Graham said the move would "get challenged in court for sure as to whether or not this fits the statutory definition of an emergency."

"I hope it works," Graham said.

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