[A]ttorney General TJ Donovan said he will only join a lawsuit against the Trump administration and its decision to declare a national emergency for border wall funding if his office determines the move would divert money from Vermont.
Sixteen states filed suit Monday against the Trump administration for declaring a state of emergency to redirect $6.7 billion, largely from military funding sources, to build a barrier along the Mexican border.
In an interview Tuesday, Donovan said that Vermont would join the lawsuit if his office learns the state would lose funding as a result of Trump’s decision.
Donovan said his office was still working to determine whether funding would be redirected from the Vermont National Guard, or any other sources in Vermont.
“If Vermont’s injured, we will join,” Donovan said. “The question is: Has money or will money be diverted from the state of Vermont? If it is we will join the lawsuit.”
A Vermont National Guard spokesperson, Capt. Mikel Arcovitch, said the Guard receives funding from both of the Department of Defense accounts the administration plans to tap for border wall construction.
But Guard officials have not heard whether they will be losing money as a result of the national declaration.
The White House said last week that following the declaration, it would divert $2.5 billion from an account that funds anti-narcotics initiatives, and $3.6 billion from a military construction fund.
“At this point we are unsure if our budget would be affected,” Arcovitch said Tuesday. “We receive funds from both areas, but have not heard if our budgets would be impacted.
The 16 states — including New York and California — filed their suit in federal court in San Francisco Friday, arguing that by declaring a national emergency to fund the construction of the wall, Trump is violating the constitution and abusing presidential power.
“President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt,” California Attorney General Xavier Beccera said in a statement Tuesday. “He knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court.”
Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine , New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Connecticut are among the states filing suit against the Trump administration.
The president says that erecting the wall is a necessary step to thwart the flow of illegal immigration, drugs and criminals into the U.S. from the southern border.
Critics say the president’s claims about the border are greatly exaggerated. Beccera’s office called it a “fabricated emergency” Monday.
