For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019
Yeah...no.
(A) investigate, regulate, or prohibit—
(i) any transactions in foreign exchange,
(ii) transfers of credit or payments between, by, through, or to any banking institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments involve any interest of any foreign country or a national thereof,
(iii) the importing or exporting of currency or securities,
by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;
(B) investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and
The next part involves armed hostilities, and since China hasn't attacked us, it doesn't apply. Not much in there that gives the President the authority to "hereby order" American companies to cut all ties with China and close their factories instanter and return to America ASAP. Nor to order UPS and FedEx and USPS to inspect all packages to find and remove chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl (China isn't exporting fentanyl, just the components for it). Besides which:
(a) Consultation with Congress
The President, in every possible instance, shall consult with the Congress before exercising any of the authorities granted by this chapter and shall consult regularly with the Congress so long as such authorities are exercised.
(b) Report to Congress upon exercise of Presidential authoritiesWhenever the President exercises any of the authorities granted by this chapter, he shall immediately transmit to the Congress a report specifying—
(1) the circumstances which necessitate such exercise of authority;
(2) why the President believes those circumstances constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States;
(3) the authorities to be exercised and the actions to be taken in the exercise of those authorities to deal with those circumstances;
(4) why the President believes such actions are necessary to deal with those circumstances; and
(5) any foreign countries with respect to which such actions are to be taken and why such actions are to be taken with respect to those countries.
None of that will fit into a tweet, nor even several of them; and a tweet is not contemplated as a report to Congress under this statute. And if you want a definition of an emergency:
“First of all, there is an important part of the statute which says he can only declare an emergency under unusual and extraordinary circumstances. China existing is not unusual or extraordinary, it’s just a thing that always has happened,” he noted. “So there is very little legally binding precedent to suggest that Trump can declare a national emergency, a national economic emergency, based on China existing.”
“The times this has been used before were against Iran when they took actual American hostages — that’s one of the last time this was used,” he noted.
And yeah, he wasn't smiling, either:
Trump's claim that he was "just having fun" and "smiling" when he referred to himself as "the chosen one" the other day is a demonstrable lie. Here's the tweet Trump posted trying to rewrite history, followed by the video. pic.twitter.com/Y1VT5diqN2— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 24, 2019
At this point (if not much, much earlier), you can pretty much take it as read: if Trump said it, he's lying.
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