Trump promises to veto Senate resolution overturning border emergency declaration

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Trump promises to veto Senate resolution overturning border emergency declaration

12 Republican senators reject Trump's national emergency; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," March 14, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I will probably have to veto. And it's not going to be overturned, and we are going to have our whole thing. It's been -- the legal scholars all say it's totally constitutional.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Today's votes cap a week of something the American people haven't seen enough of in the past two years -- both parties in the United States Congress standing up to Donald Trump. The United States of America has no king, and we never will.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The president is operating within existing law, and the crisis on our border is all too real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, HOST: Well, before this vote on this resolution about the national emergency along the border, the president tweeted out "A vote for today's resolution by Republican senators is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, crime, and the open border Democrats." Well, there were 12 senators on the GOP side who voted on the Trump emergency declaration, to block it. There you see them there. Two of them caught people's eyes. Thom Tillis voted for this resolution. He said he was going to vote against it. And Ben Sasse. Both are up for reelection. After the vote that was 59-41, the president tweeted out "Veto," and then he said he looks "forward to vetoing the just past Democrat inspired resolution which would open borders, increase crime, drugs, and trafficking in our country. I thank all the strong Republicans who voted to support border security and our desperately needed wall."

With that, let's bring in our panel, Byron York, chief political correspondent for the "Washington Examiner," Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at "USA Today," and Matthew Continetti, editor in chief of the "Washington Free Beacon." This is an exercise, it seems, in that they are not going to have the votes to override a veto, at least not yet. Just doing the head counts. But it sends a message to the court, I guess.

BRYON YORK, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": The White House feels very confident that they are going to win this, that the president's veto will not be overturned. But beyond that you can really look at this in a couple of ways. As a matter of principle, we have had 12 Republican senators reject the president's position, saying he's overreaching his executive authority. That's, I think, the biggest rejection, Republican rejection we have seen of the president so far in this presidency. So that is a big deal even if the veto can't be overturned.

But as a practical matter, as far as the border barrier is concerned, it can go ahead. The president proposed to take money from three sources what Congress had already appropriated for the wall, a Treasury forfeiture fund and a military fund, all of which do not require an emergency declaration. So he can go ahead and use that. There was a fourth source of money that even if the Congress forbade him to use it, he could still go ahead with the other three.

BAIER: So just so we're clear, the resolution blocks the national emergency declaration. When I said Thom Tillis and Ben Sasse, these are people who spoke out against the national emergency declaration but voted against this resolution today.

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Thom Tillis didn't just speak out against it. He wrote an op-ed in "The Washington Post" that said it would be intellectually dishonest not to vote against the president's declaration because he had opposed similar actions by President Obama when he was in the White House as an overreach of presidential authority. And, yet, he flipped on this.

It's interesting, 12 Republican senators voted against the president on this. But of the 10 Republican senators who are up for reelection next year, nine of them voted for the president. The only Republican senator up for reelection next year who defied the president on this was Susan Collins of Maine.

BAIER: Here is Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Security secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I really fear for our democracy when the body who creates the laws is telling the body who enforces the law, just don't enforce the law. If they don't like the law, they should change it. But the men and women at the Department of Homeland Security have sworn an oath to protect communities, to secure homeland, and to enforce the law that Congress passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: So it seems like we are going to have this battle back and forth about policy.

MONICA CROWLEY, COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON TIMES": Right, it's a double abdication because not only has Congress not done anything about the crisis on the border, it also delegated the authority with the National Emergencies Act 40 years ago to the president to create these sorts of -- or declare these sorts of emergencies.

I think there are two issues. The first issue is, 'at is happening on the border? Is it an emergency? I think so. We have had a change in the nature of immigration from single males looking for jobs to family units showing up on the border en masse and asking for asylum, and the system is broken. "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" both say so.

There is a second issue, which is a constitutional issue, which is, does the president have the authority to repurpose this money that Congress has not specifically appropriated for the wall? And there, I think, reasonable people can disagree.

What I don't understand are the Democrats who deny the existence of a crisis on the border, and at the same time, hope that the courts uphold Trump's effort to declare an emergency because they want to use the powers themselves for climate change or gun control. That is being intellectually dishonest.

BAIER: Yes. And some of the same Democrats who talked about a barrier or a wall like Chuck Schumer back in 2006.

I want to turn briefly to this other as we're waiting for the Mueller report to come forward, whenever that is, as Washington is on pins and needles here. The House votes 420-0 to force this report out into the public to be released. It is currently be blocked by Senator Lindsey Graham. We are not sure exactly why. What about this and whether it's going to come out?

YORK: The sense of the Congress is pretty clear, 420 to nothing is pretty darn clear. And, of course, it is going to come out.

BAIER: One way or another.

YORK: Of course, after everything that has happened, is Mueller going to be able to write a report and give it to the Justice Department and they say we're sorry, you can't see this? That will simply not fly. So it will come out. And as a matter of fact, I think there will be a push for not only whatever his report is but for his actual underlying information is as well, like testimony.

BAIER: And one of the key prosecutors today has moved on. The top prosecutor Andrew Weissmann stepping down, at least in coming days.

PAGE: One more sign that, as we have been saying for several months, the Mueller report is just about to come out any day now.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: Almost. It's almost here.

Next up, Beto-mania.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE, D-PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: I will not be a candidate for president in 2020. That's I think as definitive as I think those sentences get.

I'm running to serve you as the next president of the United States of America. This is going to be a positive campaign.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I think he has got a lot of hand movement. I have never seen that much hand movement. I said, is he crazy or is that just the way he acts.

I'll take them all, him or her, whoever it is, I will take him or her on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: The president weighing in on Beto O'Rourke, who is now a presidential candidate. I will say President Trump has a few hand movements of his own, but he is right that O'Rourke is really animated with his hands, also animated in talking to "Vanity Fair" with a quote, "I want to be in it. Man, I'm just born to be in it," about the presidential race. And Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan governor, said "Hmmm. Not sure this Vanity Fair piece will help Beto's campaign. Beto O'Rourke's as he comes to grips with the presidential run "I'm just born to do this."

We are back with the panel. It seems like Beto-mania has set. Susan, what about this?

PAGE: So the good news for him is that he has excited all this attention. He has a huge platform. And the bad news for him is he has excited all this attention and he is going to get a lot of scrutiny he has never gotten before. And that's going to be scrutiny not only about his charisma, because we know he has charisma. It's going to be about does he have policy answers that we expect of presidential candidates, and that's something we're going to find out as this campaign --

BAIER: If you go to his website, you don't see a lot of answers on policy as far as substantive. He was asked about the Green New Deal in Iowa. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'ROURKE: Some will criticize the Green New Deal for being too bold or being unmanageable. But I'll tell you what, I haven't seen anything better that addresses the singular crisis that we face. Literally the future of the world depends on us now right here where we are. So yes, let's find a way to do this.

(APPLAUSE)

SEN. RICK SCOTT, R-FLA: It's interesting, all these people get into the presidential race. They are all supporting a green deal that will kills the economy. They're all getting in, saying the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: It's interesting to listen to him answer and not answer questions.

YORK: Really weak on policy. As a matter of fact, had a "Washington Post" article that he cooperated with and now regrets where he basically couldn't tell them anything about anything, any policy.

But I am in the take-Beto-seriously mood right now. This man almost became the Democratic senator from Texas, performed very well, won 59 percent of voters who were 44 years and younger, 69 percent of nonwhite voters, raised $80 million around the country. It was almost like a quasi-national race. So I do think we make mistakes if we don't take people seriously. A lot of commentators made that mistake about Donald Trump in 2015 and even into 2016. So he has proven -- he has a proven ability to excite Democratic voters. And this was not a very flashy rollout, but he has already proved his ability to do this.

BAIER: Speaker Pelosi was asked whether he had proven his ability as a congressman. What did he accomplish in Congress?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF, HOUSE SPEAKER: One of the issues in his -- I haven't asked him this question, but I just know of his record here. When he came, he came as a real champion for the environment. And also, a member of the Armed Services Committee.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: He served in the House and I served with him. But, to be honest I can't remember one speech that he gave on the floor or one bill that he passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Matthew?

CONTINETTI: So the last former congressman to lose a Senate race and then be elected to president two years later was Abraham Lincoln. I think we can safely say that Beto O'Rourke is not Abraham Lincoln. Let me counted the ways. Lincoln grew up in a log cabin. Beto had a very pampered life, is married to an heiress. Lincoln's formal education lasted about one year if you add it all up. Beto is a graduate of my alma mater, Columbia University. Lincoln was dedicated to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, and Beto waves his arms a lot. The only thing they have in common is height.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: OK, the 2020 contenders in, declared or exploring, as you take a look at them, it's a list that's growing. Mayor Pete, by the way, is going to be on "FOX News Sunday" I have been told, this weekend. Also there are possible contenders, Susan, and this is a list that is very interesting, and the biggest name obviously in these, Joe Biden.

PAGE: Joe Biden, I think, is very likely to run. He's certainly all but said he wants to run. He wanted to run last time, and for family reasons felt he couldn't. and I think there is some competition between this youngest -- this very young candidate with little experience, Beto O'Rourke, and Joe Biden, because they both are white men. They both have basically centrist political views. They both connect with voters in a real way. They are both kind of engaging. One is really familiar. One is very fresh. And Democrats do have a history of liking the candidate who is fresh.

BAIER: The Biden-O'Rourke Irish ticket heading into Saint Patrick's day?

YORK: The field can really be divided in a bunch of ways. One, there is huge generational question with Biden and Bernie and Elizabeth Warren, with the 70 and over set against everybody else. That's going to be a huge difference. And in the "Vanity Fair" interview, Beto O'Rourke almost apologized for being a white man and said that he totally understands if people want to vote against him because he is a white man. And I do think this identity issue in the Democratic Party is going to be huge, because it has been 23 years since a white male Democrat became the president.

BAIER: Susan, how did you think that, I'm just born to be in it, comes across?

PAGE: I thought he was coming across kind of arrogant. Let him prove that he was born to do this by demonstrating leadership and building a coalition.

CROWLEY: They're going to gang up on Beto because he has what they all want, which is free media and great publicity from the mainstream media. So, watch them all attack Beto pretty quickly.

BAIER: They're all going to be looking for oxygen on airwaves soon, I think.

When we come back, a really good Samaritan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, on this Pi Day we honor a pie slinger who came to the rescue of a local business owner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember your morals. Remember what your parents told you when you were young.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Acts a kindness 21-year-old Morgan Burnley, a Papa John's employee in Virginia who was taking out the trash when she found almost $7,000 in cash next to the garbage. Burnley works two jobs, but she says she never thought about keeping the money. Instead she turned the money in, and it was returned to the owners. The Stafford County Sheriff's Office presented Burnley with a challenge coin, and the business owner also giving her a small reward. Congratulations. That is good stuff.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this “Special Report,” fair, balanced, and unafraid. "The Story" guest-hosted by my friend Ed Henry up in New York starts right now.

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