'That's what the law says': Trump snaps back at reporter over his authority to skip courts
President Donald Trump claimed Friday that "the law" gave him the authority to deport undocumented migrants without having to explain himself to a judge.
On Friday morning, Trump continued his attack on the judiciary, posting to Truth Social, writing, "No District Court Judge, or any Judge, can assume the duties of the President of the United States. Only Crime and Chaos would result."
The Trump administration is engaged in an ongoing battle with U.S. District Court James E. Boasberg who ordered a plane full of Venezuelan immigrants being flown to prison in El Salvador to be returned to the United States. The administration allegedly ignored the order, then failed to provide supporting documents that the judge requested.
At a late morning Oval Office press conference with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a reporter asked, "Mr. president, do you think you have the authority, the power to round up people and deport them? And then you're under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them?"
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"Well, that's what the law says, and that's what our country needs," Trump answered, "because we were, unfortunately, they allowed millions of people to come into our country totally unvetted, totally unchecked. So, you ought to ask...did Biden have the authority to do something that's unthinkable? Have open borders where millions of people poured into our country totally unvetted and totally unchecked?"
Trump claimed that "many" of the undocumented migrants let in were "very dangerous people."
"These are hard, tough criminals, and we have to get them out. And a judge sitting behind a bench someplace, got a nice appointment. You can't take that away from the people that are responsible."
The president then said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has "got the authority to get bad people out of our country. And you can't stop that with a judge sitting behind a bench that has no idea what goes on, who happens to be a radical left lunatic."
Trump has called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached, but U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public rebuke, saying impeachment was "not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."