Fox News host Laura Ingraham pressed President Trump on Tuesday about whether he would defy a court order he disagreed with amid a clash between his administration and a federal judge over flights deporting Venezuelan migrants.
Ingraham noted that the Trump administration’s decision to carry out the deportation flights despite a judge’s order directing the flights be turned around has sparked concerns from critics that the president would defy court orders he didn’t like.
“Well I think that, number one, nobody’s been through more courts than I have. I think nobody knows the courts better than I have … and what they’ve done to me — I’ve had the worst judges. I’ve had crooked judges,” Trump said.
“But going forward would you defy a court order? We all know that,” Ingraham interjected.
“I never did defy a court order,” Trump said.
“And you wouldn’t in the future?” Ingraham asked.
“No, you can’t do that,” Trump said. “However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges. These are judges that shouldn’t be allowed. I think at a certain point, you have to look at what do you do when you have a rogue judge.”
Trump earlier Tuesday called for the impeachment of U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, who over the weekend ordered flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador to be turned around. The administration has said the flights were already out of U.S. territory at the time, while also suggesting Boasberg did not have the authority to intervene in the matter.
Boasberg is unlikely to be impeached, as it would require a majority in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
Still, the furor over Boasberg’s ruling elicited a rare public statement from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said.
