Pelosi Threatens Possible Legal Action over Expected Trump Emergency Declaration

The top Democrat in the U.S. Congress said on Thursday she might file a legal challenge if President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to secure funds to build a wall along the U.S. southern border, as the White House has said he would.

"I may," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said when asked by a reporter whether she would file a legal challenge. "We will review our options," she said, adding that Democrats would response "appropriately."

Pelosi also warned Republicans that a future Democratic president could declare gun violence a national emergency.

But she stressed that she was not advocating for Democrats to declare a national emergency. Only that Trump was establishing a precedent that should, at least, make Republicans nervous.

"If the president can declare an emergency on something he has created as an emergency, an illusion that he wants to convey, just think about what a president with different values can present to the American people," Pelosi said.

"You want to talk about a national emergency? Let's talk about today," Pelosi said, referring to the first anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead on Feb. 14, 2018.

She said the Parkland shooting was "another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America."

"That's a national emergency. Why don't you declare that an emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would," she said. "But a Democratic president can do that. A Democratic president can declare emergencies as well."