10 things you need to know today: January 5, 2019

Trump suggests yearlong shutdown or state of emergency to obtain border wall funding, federal court upholds transgender military ban, and more

President Trump speaks to the media after a meeting with Congressional leaders about ending the partial government shutdown, in the Rose Garden at the White House on January 4, 2019.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

1. Trump suggests yearlong shutdown or state of emergency to obtain border wall funding

President Trump at a press conference Friday confirmed telling congressional Democrats he would be willing to continue the partial government shutdown for "months or even years" to get $5 billion in border wall funding. He "may" declare a state of emergency to build the wall without congressional approval if negotiations continue to be fruitless, Trump said, suggesting he can use the "military version of eminent domain" to seize private land for wall construction. Trump also claimed the nearly 800,000 government employees currently missing paychecks won't mind because "they'd say, 'Mr. President, keep going, this is far more important.'"

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.