House Democrat Gives Trump Stark Reminder About Presidential Duties

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) reminded President Donald Trump that he has a duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution, following brazen, repeated suggestions that he shouldn’t be limited by the court system because the American people elected him.

“The notion that because he won an election that he should be able to ignore the Constitution or violate our laws is preposterous,” Goldman said on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” on Wednesday. “Every president wins an election.”

“That does not mean that they get to just make up whatever laws they want and decide which ones they’re going to comply with and which ones they aren’t,” he argued. “Donald Trump does not get to decide what the law is, the Supreme Court and the judiciary does.”

The segment was prompted by a Truth Social post earlier that day in which Trump denounced “Our Court System” and “Activist judges” for supposedly preventing him from doing “the job I was Elected to do.”

Trump launched mass deportations shortly after assuming office in January, and while his base is fully on board with the resulting raids, arrests and expulsions, some judges have tried to block the president’s efforts — which have already resulted in horrific errors.

The Trump administration openly admitted in March to mistakenly deporting Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a brutal prison there, despite a U.S. immigration judge ruling in 2019 that he can’t be sent back due to warranted fears of gang retribution.

Garcia had lived in the U.S. for 14 years with his wife and children; Trump has not only defied the Supreme Court by refusing to help facilitate his return from El Salvador, but has frequently suggested his office shouldn’t be bound by the legal standard of due process.

Trump painted his deportation policy as a just crusade against the “most dangerous people on Earth” during Sunday’s interview on “Meet the Press” — and said, “I was elected to get them the hell out of here and the courts are holding me from doing it.”

When asked if he doesn’t still need to uphold the Constitution, Trump said: “I don’t know.”

Trump has also recently floated the idea of deporting U.S. citizens to foreign prisons.

“I don’t think he is abiding by the Constitution,” Goldman said Wednesday. “He needs to. The Republicans here in the House and over in the Senate need to pressure him to do so publicly, because our Constitution and our fundamental Democracy hangs in the balance.”

“And his behavior is escalating,” he continued. “It’s becoming more aggressive, more antagonistic to the courts, … the rule of law … [and] the Constitution. And if Republicans do not speak out for our Constitution, then we’re heading down a really dangerous path.”