Minutes after President Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S. southern border on Friday, MSNBC congressional correspondent Garrett Haake touted Democrats scrambling to release “statements and tweets about how ridiculous they found that entire press conference.” Later in afternoon, the reporter even eagerly predicted that liberal lawmakers would be able exploit the deaths of military service members to denounce the executive action.
“My phone’s just about dead from Democratic lawmakers’ statements and tweets about how ridiculous they found that entire press conference and how concerned they are about what they see as an unconstitutional power grab from the President of the United States,” Haake melodramatically proclaimed late in the 11:00 a.m. ET hour.
He went on to assure viewers that “you’re gonna see a fairly aggressive use of the oversight authorities of this Congress” and that Homeland Security Secretary “Kirstjen Nielsen ends up living in Rayburn, living in the House office buildings over the next month” as she and other administration officials get called constantly to Capitol Hill to testify about the emergency declaration. All as part an effort by Democrats to “bring down these decision makers for the Trump White House and make them own this.”
Haake lamented that the Republican-controlled Senate was “going to be a different story,” fretting: “I think we’re going to have to drag reactions out of some of these senators who have been on the fence about this. But we’ll see if they’re ready to condemn this action by this president.”
Returning late in the 1:00 p.m. ET hour, Haake reiterated: “I would expect to see a parade of Trump administration officials brought to the Hill to testify about this national emergency.” He particularly noted funding for the border wall being diverted from military programs and generals being brought “down in front of the hot spotlights” to be asked “questions about how that money would be spent.”
He then concluded: “And the first time an F-35 crashes or there’s a training accident somewhere base on military readiness, I think you can expect Democrats to raise high holy hell about every dollar that was diverted from those programs to wall building.”
The reporter was so eager to tout how Democrats could use such tragedies to attack the Trump administration that he seemed to forget the injuries or even deaths that would occur if such incidents actually took place.
Here are excerpts of Haake’s February 15 reporting:
MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin
02/15/19
11:51 AM(...)
GARRETT HAAKE: My phone’s just about dead from Democratic lawmakers’ statements and tweets about how ridiculous they found that entire press conference and how concerned they are about what they see as an unconstitutional power grab from the President of the United States.
The most important statement, the one that tells us the most about what direction this is going, is a joint statement we got from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. I won’t read the whole thing to you because it’s quite lengthy, but it includes two things that I think are quite important. They call this a power grab, they say, “The President’s actions clearly violate the Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, which our founders enshrined in the Constitution.” And it says, “The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the courts, and in the public using every remedy available.”
So I think we’re gonna see the full spectrum of congressional push-back here, led by the House. So what does that mean? I do think we will see very soon this privileged resolution introduced in the House to condemn this action. It will get a strong vote, a potentially bipartisan vote in the House, it’ll go to the Senate.
I also think you’re gonna see a fairly aggressive use of the oversight authorities of this Congress. I think do not be surprised if Kirstjen Nielsen ends up living in Rayburn, living in the House office buildings over the next month. Nielsen could get called down here. CBP officials will be called down here. When I heard the President say that he talked to generals who said, “Yeah, it was no problem to take this money that had been appropriated for other things.” Expect to see those military leaders called down here. I think you will see a very, very aggressive House response here, both to try to limit the President directly, to file briefs in support of legal action that may be taken by states and communities affected by this, and to bring down these decision makers for the Trump White House and make them own this.
So you will see that full force of the House put to use here. The Senate’s going to be a different story. In this same statement, the Democratic leaders call on their Republican colleagues to join them in condemning this action. And so far, I’ve not seen one of them do that. I've seen statements from Lindsey Graham, Rick Scott, who is somebody who will be interesting to watch here, all supporting the President. I think we’re going to have to drag reactions out of some of these senators who have been on the fence about this. But we’ll see if they’re ready to condemn this action by this president.
(...)
MSNBC Live With Velshi & Ruhle
02/15/19
1:50 PM(...)
HAAKE: I would expect to see a parade of Trump administration officials brought to the Hill to testify about this national emergency. You know, if you think about it, Ali, the President said, “Oh, I had generals in and they all said these programs aren’t as important as building the wall and they were happy to have their money taken away.” Well, he didn’t name who those people were, but I can guarantee that this Congress is going to endeavor to find out exactly who lost money and will bring them down in front of the hot spotlights and ask them questions about how that money would be spent. And the first time an F-35 crashes or there’s a training accident somewhere base on military readiness, I think you can expect Democrats to raise high holy hell about every dollar that was diverted from those programs to wall building.
(...)
