Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has joined with 15 other states in a lawsuit seeking to overturn President Trump's emergency power declaration to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Frey says the fundamental concern is that the president violated the separation of powers clause of the U.S. Constitution by diverting money appropriated for one purpose to fund something else without the approval of Congress.
“This is about diverting money that Congress has already appropriated to a project that Congress had the opportunity to consider and decided not to appropriate money to,” Frey says.
And closer to home, Frey says that some $160 million in funds appropriated for projects in Maine could be diverted, and that could hurt the state’s economy.
"Somebody has to stand up and call it out for what it is, which is a politically motivated diversion of money that Congress has already appropriated," Frey says.
Trump, meanwhile, has tweeted that he believes the lawsuit is political, and that he expects to win it in the end.
Originally published Feb. 19, 2019 at 1:04 p.m. ET.
