WH Reporters Grill Sarah Sanders on Shutdown: If It’s an Emergency, Why Wait 3 Weeks to Declare It?

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders held the first press briefing since before the government shutdown and reporters opened with questions about this new February 15th deadline.

ABC News’ Jon Karl asked right at the outset, “Is the president really willing to go through another shutdown if he can’t get money out of the Democrats for the border wall?”

Sanders said President Donald Trump doesn’t want another shutdown, but to work with Democrats on border security.

“The president has opened the government,” she said, “on the basis that Democrats have signals to us that they’re willing to actually get serious about a real deal and get serious about fixing the problem at the border, including funding for a border wall.”

At one point, NBC News’ Hallie Jackson brought up how Trump may use his executive authority and asked, “If the president truly believes that what’s happening is an emergency, why would he wait three weeks to declare it?”

“Because it’s real simple,” Sanders responded. “The president has said, as most of us in the administration have said on a number of fronts, the best fix is to be able to do it legislatively. But if Congress, particularly Democrats in Congress, would rather play political games than actually do their jobs and fix the problem, then the president will be forced to take a different path.”

Jackson countered, “It’s either an emergency, Sarah, or it’s not an emergency. You can’t have a half-emergency, right? So which is it?”

Sanders said she’s “missing the point” and said it’s a security and humanitarian crisis at the border, reemphasizing that Trump will be “forced” to make up for Congress’ “shortcomings” if they don’t act.

You can watch above, via Fox News.

[image via screengrab]