shortly before the emergency was declared, speaker of the house nancy pelosi warned republicans that this would set a precedent for the next democratic president to declare a national emergency on gun violence. after the declaration, pelosi and senate minority leader senator chuck schumer issued a joint statement opposing the declaration. pelosi and schumer described the declaration as an affront to the rule of law, "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that president trump broke his core promise to have mexico pay for his wall." the democratic leaders' statement said that trump was trying to "shred the constitution" and vowed to seek "every remedy available" to block it.