Trump Declares National Emergency to Get Border Wall Funding

President Donald Trump capped months of political drama Friday, announcing he's signing a bill to fund the government, avoiding another government shutdown, while also taking the extraordinary action of declaring a national emergency to secure additional money for his proposed border wall that congressional Democrats refused to give him.

"I am going to be signing a national emergency," Trump said.

The president explained his highly controversial move in a Rose Garden announcement, saying "We're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border and we're going to do it one way or the other."

He said he was taking "critical actions" but "not because it was a campaign promise."

"We're talking about an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs," he explained.

"I don't have to do it for the election, I've already done a wall for the election, 2020," the president said in a sometimes rambling justification for his actions, blaming Democrats.

"And the only reason we're up here talking about this is because of the election, because they want to try and win an election which it looks like they're not going to be able to do, and this is one of the ways where they think they can possibly win -- is by obstruction and a lot of other nonsense -- and I think that I just want to get it done faster that's all," he said.