New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Monday that it was “shocking” to hear President Trump say in an interview the day prior that he doesn’t know whether he needs to follow the Constitution.
“It was shocking, and it tells you all you need to know about this presidency and this man: that he doesn’t give a damn about the U.S. Constitution. And that is frightening in itself,” Hochul said in an interview on “CNN News Central.”
In a Sunday interview with NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Trump sidestepped questions about the Supreme Court, due process and whether noncitizens in the U.S. are granted the right to a trial.
When moderator Kristen Welker mentioned the Fifth Amendment, Trump cut in, saying, “I don’t know. It seems, 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,” adding that there are “thousands” of murderers in the country and that “I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it.”
“But even given those numbers that you’re talking about, don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Welker asked.
“I don’t know,” Trump responded. “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.”
Hochul on Monday blasted the president for his remarks, saying Trump “basically said that he doesn’t have to follow or even understand what the Constitution of the United States requires of every person who takes that oath of office.”
“I took the same oath of office 31 years ago to run for town board,” she continued. “I knew I was supposed to uphold the Constitution. I got to think a president who took the oath of office not once, but twice, understands that there are limitations, and that is the body of the Constitution.”
“He must follow it. Otherwise, the democracy that we fought for and upheld for 250 years, it’s just going to go down the drain. And we’re not going to let that happen.”
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