White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaking during the daily briefing at the White House on Wednesday, said judges blocking the Trump administration's actions were causing a constitutional crisis.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds
Since President Trump’s return to office last month, federal judges have notably halted several moves geared at drastically reforming parts of the federal government and U.S. immigration policy through a number of preliminary rulings and injunctions.
At least one federal judge has said the administration has failed to fully comply with a temporary restraining order in a case challenging the administration’s attempts to freeze payments for grants and other programs.
Critics of the administration have pointed to the various rulings as clear evidence that the president is overstepping his authority and thrusting the nation into a constitutional crisis.
But the White House is firing back, arguing that the real danger is coming from judges who have ruled against him.
“The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges and liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block President Trump’s basic executive authority,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday.
Leavitt called the orders that federal judges have made against the administration’s agenda a “continuation of the weaponization of justice” against Trump.
During Wednesday’s press briefing, Leavitt addressed what she characterized as “an extremely dishonest narrative” that the administration was causing a crisis with its actions and criticized the news media for “fear-mongering” on the topic.
Her comments came one day after Trump spoke about some of the legal challenges during remarks from the Oval Office, where he alleged that judges were seeking to thwart the administration’s agenda.
“We want to weed out the corruption, and it seems hard to believe that a judge could say, ‘we don’t want you to do that.’ So maybe we have to look at the judges, because that’s very serious. I think it’s a very serious violation,” Trump said.
President Trump, accompanied by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his son X Musk, speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office on Tuesday. Trump complained that a judge wants the administration to stop looking for waste, fraud and abuse, but said he would comply with the courts and appeal rulings he disagrees with.
Andrew Harnik
Trump clarified that while he will comply with court rulings, the White House will also file appeals.
Leavitt acknowledged that while courts have the power to issue nationwide injunctions, “these judges have no basis in the law and have no grounds,” adding that Trump’s actions are constitutional and that the White House would be vindicated on appeal.