If President Donald Trump declares a national emergency at the border in order to get a wall at the southern border, it will fail in the courts, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Thursday.
"Certainly if President [Harry] Truman couldn't nationalize the steel industry at a time of war during the Korean War to help in the war effort, then this artificial crisis of the president isn't going to justify his appropriating money for a wall that Congress is unwilling to give," the California Democrat told CNN's "New Day."
"If that is sufficient to meet the definition of a national emergency, we will have nothing but national emergencies all the time, and I don't think the court is going to go for that," Schiff added.
The matter is more than about a wall, though, said Schiff, but instead about Trump shutting down the government to get his way.
"If it is rewarded in any way, shape or form, we will see this over and over again," said Schiff. "This has simply got to stop."
He also Wednesday commented about an upcoming speech Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will deliver in Cairo, during which he is expected to praise Saudi Arabia as a stabilizing force in the Middle East without denouncing the Saudi crown prince for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"This is again an illustration of how much human rights have completely fallen off the agenda of the Trump administration," said Schiff. "It is simply not a priority."