Donald Trump opted not to criticize Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Tuesday night after he issued a rare public rebuke of the president’s missive about impeaching judges over rulings he doesn’t agree with.
Despite the fact that he opted to stay mum on Roberts, Trump again called for a pathway to remove “bad” jurists.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham first asked Trump about Roberts’ statement, which shot down wholesale the president’s argument.
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“What is your reaction to the court stepping in to make a statement here?” Ingraham asked, grousing that the court “didn’t make when Joe Biden decided to forgive all those student loans”—even though the court did indeed prohibit the former president’s sweeping loan-cancellation program.
Trump declined to criticize the conservative jurist, and pointed out that his statement didn’t include the name “Trump”—implying that the Supreme Court justice might have been referring to someone else.
“He didn’t mention my name in the statement. I just saw it quickly. He didn’t mention my name,” Trump said.
He then lashed out again at U.S. District Judge James Boasberg for ordering the government on Saturday to return flights carrying Venezuelan migrants out of the country. Trump previously demanded Boasberg’s impeachment.
“Many people have called for his impeachment,” Trump said of the judge, whom he called “radical-left.”
“He was Obama-appointed, and he actually said we shouldn’t be able to take criminals, killers, murderers, horrible, the worst people, gang members, gang leaders—that we shouldn’t be allowed to kick them out of our country,” Trump went on, referring to his administration’s contention that the people on those flights were part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
“That’s a presidential job. That’s not for a local judge to be making that determination, and I thought it was terrible.”
Given the fact that the deportation planes didn’t turn around in defiance of a judge’s order, Ingraham asked Trump later about his willingness to defy court rulings.
“This is leading people to wonder whether there are court orders that you will defy because you believe that the judge has no jurisdiction or there are political questions and not justiciable at all. And what would you say to that? Are there circumstances where you would defy a court order?” she asked.
Trump didn’t directly answer, instead reiterating his personal complaints about the justice system, including how he, a felon, has “been through more courts” than anyone, and that “nobody knows the courts better.”
“But going forward, would you?” Ingraham asked again. “Would you defy a court order?”
“I never did defy a court order,” Trump replied.
The Justice Department argued Monday that the judge’s verbal order didn’t hold water—an argument that Boasberg called “a heck of a stretch.”
The Fox host inquired again: “And you wouldn’t in the future?”
“No, you can’t do that,” Trump claimed. “However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges. And these are judges that shouldn’t be allowed—I think at a certain point, you have to start looking at, what do you do when you have a rogue judge? The judge that we’re talking about, he’s—you look at his other rulings, I mean, rulings unrelated—but having to do with me, he’s a lunatic.”
Trump then said he felt confident that the matter would ultimately be decided in his favor at the Supreme Court.
