CHUCK TODD:

So you believe his use of the National Emergency Act, I want to clarify this, is constitutional? You believe it will be upheld in the court? Do you want the courts to uphold this power?

SENATOR RON JOHNSON:

Listen, I regret that past Congresses have given the president, any president, a lot of its, Congress’s constitutional authority. It’s done it on tariffs, it’s done in this case. It’s done in many cases. We should have three coequal branches. Right now, the presidency is probably the most powerful, and then the court. And Congress is really diminished. And we should start taking back that congressional authority. It’d be, it’d return that balance. But that’s the way it is. And again, particularly when Congress has given —

CHUCK TODD:

Right.

SENATOR RON JOHNSON:

— the president authority, it's really when that president's authority is even stronger than just what's written in the Constitution.

CHUCK TODD:

Are you going to vote to disapprove of the president's use of this, of the National Emergency Act when it comes to the Senate? The House is likely to vote on a resolution of disapproval. It'll come to the Senate. Where would you vote on that?

SENATOR RON JOHNSON:

I'm going to take a look at the case the president makes. And I'm also going to take a look at how quickly this money is actually going to be spent, versus what he's going to use. If he's not going to be spending it this fiscal year or very early in the next fiscal year, I would have my doubts. So again, I'm going to take a look at it and I’ll, you know, I'll decide when I actually have to vote on it.

CHUCK TODD:

Do you share the concern that other conservatives have that, if this is allowed to become precedent, where a president, thwarted by a Congress that he disagreed with, can end-run Congress this way and declare a national emergency to take appropriated money and spend it anywhere, climate change, guns, you name it?

SENATOR RON JOHNSON:

Absolutely, I share those concerns, which is why we're going to take a very careful look at what he's doing here in this instance. But again, I have to stress, this president has been thwarted for keep — you know, in his attempt to keep this nation safe and secure, to secure, to secure our borders. Let's face it. If this president can claim a mandate on anything he ran on, it's exactly this issue, better barriers and securing our border. And Congress, and Democrats in Congress have supported this in the past. They just won't support it now because it's President Trump.

CHUCK TODD:

But Senator--

SENATOR RON JOHNSON:

I think it's very regrettable. An easy solution--

CHUCK TODD:

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Senator —

SENATOR RON JOHNSON:

Just have them stop being hypocrites.