Fox News host Chris Wallace relentlessly pushed Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller on Donald Trump‘s declaration of a national emergency on Sunday, and nailed him particularly hard by repeatedly asking for a single example of another president who has done what Trump has done.
On this week’s Fox News Sunday, Wallace was all over Miller, challenging him to provide some explanation for how Trump’s national emergency is a national emergency, when Trump himself essentially admitted it wasn’t a national emergency. And when Miller tried to fend off the questions with talking points, Wallace peppered him with followups.
But Miller had an especially tough time getting around one line of questioning.
Wallace began by schooling Miller on the U.S. Constitution, telling him “I know that you are a constitutional conservative, and you believe that the constitution should be interpreted as written,” then proceeding to read to him from the Constitution. “Article 1 section 9 clause 7 of The Constitution, as written, ‘No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law,'” he read.
“Isn’t what President Trump want to do a clear violation of what the founders, what James Madison talked about, was giving Congress the power of the purse?” Wallace asked.
Miller countered by citing the National Emergencies Act, which actually doesn’t overrule the constitution. Wallace interrupted him.
“But let’s talk
“Well first of all…” Miller began.
“Can you find one case?” Wallace repeated.
“What you’re missing, Chris, is that the national emergencies don’t all have the same authorities the same justification…” Miller said.
“I understand that, but there have been 59, can you find one case like that?” Wallace asked, again.
Miller tried to dodge the question again, telling Wallace “These authorities’ specifically refers to the use of military construction funds. Other emergencies, for example, were declared…”
“Wait,” Wallace said, cutting Miller off again. “If you want to talk about military military constructions, do you know how many times military construction has been invoked as a National emergency? Twice. Twice. Once by George H.W. Bush during the middle of the Gulf War, and the second time by George W. Bush right after 9/11. This is hardly comparable to either of those.”
Miller tried to change the subject again by asking Wallace an unrelated question, but Wallace was not having it.
“You know, the joy
“Well this current situation…” Miller began.
“Just yes or no, sir,” Wallace said.
After one more shot at dodging the question, Wallace concluded “So the answer is no, there hasn’t been a single case like this.”
The rest of the interview did not go much better for Miller, who was clearly outmatched by both Wallace and the facts.
Watch the clip above, via Fox.
[Image via screengrab]