WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump said he does not know whether he’s required to uphold the U.S. Constitution as president in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” as he defended his administration’s aggressive actions to remove people who are in the country illegally.
Trump’s comments follow the Supreme Court in April saying the Trump administration must “facilitate” the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland sheet metal worker and father of three who was wrongfully deported to an El Salvador prison without receiving a trial.
“I don’t know,” Trump said when asked by host Kristen Welker whether he needs to uphold the Constitution. “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.”
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The Trump administration has said it doesn’t need to request Abrego Garcia’s release from El Salvador, where he’s originally from, because of how the court worded its decision. Democrats and other critics have argued that such statements show the administration is refusing to obey the nation’s highest court.
“What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said,” Trump told Welker. “They have a different interpretation.”
Trump officials have accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of the MS-13 gang and said if he were returned to the United States, he would be deported back to El Salvador because of his illegal status. Abrego Garcia has denied he was a member of MS-13 or any other gang.
Pressed whether he agrees that everyone deserves due process under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution ‒ which says no person “shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” ‒ Trump said he wasn’t sure.
“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 said. “We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.”
Trump has pushed the boundaries of presidential power during the first three-plus months of his second term, bypassing Congress to set policy and arguing that the president ‒ not U.S. district judges ‒ have the final say on national security matters.
More: Wrongly deported man not leaving El Salvador prison, Bukele says at Trump meeting
Trump has previously said he “could” secure the return of Abrego Garcia but pushed back to Welker on the notion that he’s defying the Supreme Court. He said he’s relying on the legal counsel of his attorney general, Pam Bondi, and claimed he is “not involved in the legality or the illegality.”
“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. “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.”
During an April visit with Trump at the White House, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he has no plans to release Abrego Garcia and return him to the United States.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says he doesn’t know if he must uphold Constitution
