Trump Will Declare State of Emergency to Build Border Wall

President Trump will declare a national emergency.

The news was first announced Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, reports the Associated Press.

McConnell, to his colleagues on the Senate floor, addressed whether Trump would sign a spending bill, which would provide $1.37 billion in funding for 55 miles of steel fencing -- far less than the president's $5.7 billion ask for a border wall.

The bill aimed to prevent another shutdown, which would have been triggered Friday without funding. The last shutdown closed the federal government for 35 days.

"Trump is prepared to sign the bill and will also declare a national emergency," McConnell said. In declaring a national emergency, Trump would bypass Congress in obtaining federal funding to build the wall on the U.S./Mexico border -- a key promise of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, confirmed Trump's intent in a statement released to press. "President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action -- including a national emergency -- to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border," Sanders said. "The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country."

The news rattled both sides of the aisle and will likely trigger a battle in the courts over the bounds of presidential authority. Many worried what the precedent of declaring an emergency over a partisan issue could mean for the power of the executive branch.

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, responded by saying she may file a legal challenge. "That's an option and we'll review our options," she said in a press conference. "But it's important to note that when the president declares this emergency, first of all, it's not an emergency."

Pelosi also asked Trump why had not declared a national emergency on gun violence, invoking the one-year anniversary of the Parkland school shooting.

"You want to talk about a national emergency? How about gun violence? Why don't you declare that a national emergency, Mr. President?" Pelosi asked.

This story is developing...