Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamSenate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report The Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot MORE (R-S.C.) in an interview broadcast Sunday voiced support for President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE's move to declare a national emergency to fund a border wall, saying he made a convincing case that the southern border is "broken."

"I think the president's been making a persuasive case that the border is broken," Graham, a key ally of the president, said on CBS's "Face The Nation."

"Drugs are flowing across the border killing Americans, human trafficking. We've got a dangerous situation along the border," he added. "I know that the governor of California agreed to leave a hundred California national guardsmen along the U.S. Mexican border because he could see results in terms of interdicting drugs."

.@LindseyGrahamSC is defending the legality of an emergency declaration, telling @margbrennan the president made “a persuasive case that the border's broken,” for an interview airing tomorrowhttps://t.co/LCAGOhw59g pic.twitter.com/avodUk6AGv — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 16, 2019

"So I think the president has the authority to deploy troops to the border ... And I think he has the authority while they're there to build barriers."

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Graham added that he supports Trump's "desire to get it done sooner rather than later," saying that he was "disappointed that my Democratic colleagues would not give the president the money to secure the border."

The South Carolina Republican also said he didn't think Trump had opened himself up to legal challenges by saying he didn't need to declare an emergency.

The comments from Graham came after Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to allocate nearly $8 billion for construction of his long-sought wall along the southern border.

The Rose Garden announcement from Trump came as he agreed to sign a congressional spending bill without the $5 billion in funds for a border wall he had demanded.

Graham said last month that Trump needed to declare a national emergency for construction of a wall along the southern border if lawmakers were unable to reach a sufficient deal on border security.

He contended at the time that declaring a national emergency wouldn't be much different from how previous administrations have used troops at the border.