“Presidents have authority to defend the nation,” said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Government Shutdown Mulvaney: Cabinet secretaries looking for money to fund wall

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said President Donald Trump has directed his Cabinet to find government funding that could be redirected toward building a border wall.

“Presidents have authority to defend the nation,” Mulvaney said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked whether Trump should use emergency powers to get the money he’s seeking to build physical barriers along the border with Mexico.


“The president has asked every single Cabinet secretary, and the Office of Management and Budget, to go out and find money that can be used legally to guard the southern border,” he said.

“I’m actually heavily involved with it and have been working with all the Cabinet secretaries to try and find money that we can legally use to defend the southern border,” Mulvaney added.

House Democrats have rejected the president’s demands for more than $5 billion for a border wall, a standoff that has led to a more than two-week-long partial government shutdown.