The 12 Senate Republicans who defied Trump and voted to terminate the border wall national emergency
- Twelve Republican senators on Thursday voted in favor of a resolution to terminate President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to build his border wall.
- This is a major rebuke of Trump and led the president to tweet "Veto!" minutes after the vote - an apparent threat to sign the first veto of his presidency.
- The resolution already passed in the Democrat-controlled House in February, but this is particularly embarrassing for Trump given Republicans have a majority in the Senate.
A dozen Republican senators on Thursday voted in favor of a resolution to terminate President Donald Trump's controversial national emergency aimed at obtained funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border.
The Senate voted 59-41 to pass the resolution.
This is a major legislative embarrassment for Trump, and comes just a day after the Senate also rebuked the president by passing a resolution to end US support for Saudi Arabia in the Yemen conflict.
Trump tweeted "VETO!" minutes after the vote - an apparent threat to issue the first veto of his presidency in hopes of gaining funding for his border wall and deliver on one of his central 2016 campaign pledges.
The twelve GOP senators who defied Trump and voted in favor of the resolution on Wednesday were: Mike Lee, Roy Blunt, Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Roger Wicker, Rob Portman, Lamar Alexander, Mitt Romney, and Jerry Moran.
Here are some of the senators' respective statements on why they went against Trump:
- Paul: "Every single Republican I know decried President Obama's use of executive power to legislate. We were right then. But the only way to be an honest officeholder is to stand up for the same principles no matter who is in power."
- Romney: "We experienced a similar erosion of congressional authority with President Obama's unilateral immigration orders - which I strenuously opposed. In the case before us now, where Congress has enacted specific policy, to consent to an emergency declaration would be both inconsistent with my beliefs and contrary to my oath to defend the constitution."
This article will continue to be updated.