Malibu’s Congressman Worried That Trump May Confiscate Malibu Disaster Money

Last night’s State Of The Union address in Washington has a direct impact on Malibu.

The strong call by President Trump to build the wall at the Mexican border still seems destined for impasse between congressional Democrats and the president.

Congressman Ted Lou told KBUU News after the speech that Malibu fire relief money could end up as a hostage. We spoke to Congressman Lieu minutes after the speech.

REPORTER: So the president says that you can’t have peace and you can’t have legislation if you have war and if you have investigation. What are your thoughts when you heard that?

LIEU:  “That was one of the more shocking lines of the state of the union.

“Members of Congress took an oath to the Constitution we have a duty, not just to pass legislation, but also to conduct oversight over the other two branches of government and Democrats will fulfill our oldest to the constitution we will conduct oversight we will conduct investigations.

“Hopefully Republicans will join us as well and we will see what the evidence leads us. But we’re not simply going to abdicate our constitutional duties.”

REPORTER: “So where do we go from here is the tone different in Washington tonight like the other side of the aisle would suggest?”

LIEU: “We’ll see if this is a repeat of the same movie that we’ve seen twice already if you recall he gave to prior states of the union where he read from a Teleprompter and it was a fairly normal speech, and then a few days later he reverted back to simply being fully partisan and doubling down on his base.

“So we won’t know for a few days, or perhaps weeks or months, but it would depend on what he chooses to do.

“I really hope by the way he doesn’t declare a national emergency.

“First of all there isn’t one, to build the wall on the southern border.

“But second, taking funding away from disaster victims, in terms of money that would go to construction, and I think that is horrible.

“I know that Malibu and that other areas that have been hard-hit by wildfires,

“The last thing that we want to do is to take money away from disaster areas.”

That was Malibu congressmen Ted Lieu .. Speaking with KBUU news from Capitol Hill after the State of the Union address.

And disaster funds for Malibu and other fire ravaged communities in California is emerging as the flashpoint in the battle between Congress and the president over the border wall.

Last night …

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra delivered the Spanish-language response to the president’s address.

And he fired a warning shot at the president..

He said our state is prepared to take President Trump to court … if he declares a national emergency to fund a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border while cutting federal funds  cutting federal funds to fire-damaged communities in this state.

Quote …  “The idea of declaring a nonexistent state of emergency on the border, in order to justify robbing funds that belong to the victims of fires, floods, hurricanes, and droughts, to pay for the wall is not only immoral, it is illegal..”

Close quote … from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.