President Trump indicated some skepticism about his need to follow the Constitution regarding deportation cases, yielding to administration attorneys to guide him on what to do.
Trump said in an NBC News interview with Kristen Welker that aired on “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he’s “relying” on Attorney General Pam Bondi on how to respond to the unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court ordering the administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Asked whether he must uphold the Constitution concerning deportations, Trump replied, “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. They have a different interpretation.”
She started out by asking if Trump agrees with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said last week on “Meet the Press” that citizens and noncitizens, alike, are entitled to due process. “Yes, of course,” Rubio said.
The president said, “I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.”
Welker pushed Trump, citing the Fifth Amendment.
Trump replied: “I don’t know. It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials.” He added that he was elected to get “dangerous” people “the hell out of here and the courts are holding me from doing it.”
During the interview, which was taped on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, Trump repeated that he has the power to bring back Abrego Garcia, a man who entered the U.S. years ago without authorization and was sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador intended for gang members. The administration initially acknowledged that sending him there was an administrative error but has since doubled down on deporting him, accusing him of being a member of MS-13.
Abrego Garcia’s family has disputed that, and Democrats have called on Trump to have Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. and for his right to due process be protected.
Trump’s claim that he could bring back Abrego Garcia has seemed to undercut an argument the Justice Department has made that it isn’t able.
“I have the power to ask for him to come back if I’m instructed by the attorney general that it’s legal to do so,” Trump said in the interview. “But the decision as to whether or not he should come back will be the head of El Salvador. He’s a very capable man.”
Trump told Welker that he may seek clarification from the Supreme Court on the meaning of the word “facilitate” and what his administration is required to do but wouldn’t say if it’s in contact with El Salvador about bringing him back to the U.S.