Missouri paid for Schmitt's Texas trip to announce lawsuit

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Missouri taxpayers paid for state Attorney General Eric Schmitt's trip to Texas last week to announce a lawsuit he filed seeking to force the restart of construction of a southern border wall.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Schmitt's spokesman, Chris Nuelle, declined to immediately release the total cost of the trip, but he defended the reason for it.

Nuelle says the state paid for the trip because Schmitt was filing a lawsuit on behalf of Missouri.

Schmitt, who is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, filed the lawsuit arguing that President Joe Biden's decision to halt construction on the border wall is unlawful because Congress approved it.