'Pretty easy questions': House Republican breaks with Trump during CNN grilling
Rep. Rich McCormick, M.D. (R-GA) was among the few Republicans willing to speak out against President Donald Trump's comments during an interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker.
Among the questions from Welker was whether Trump thinks he must uphold the Constitution as president.
Trump responded, “I don’t know. 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. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court say. They have a different interpretation."
McCormick told CNN's Brianna Keilar on Monday that everyone in the United States deserves access to due process, including undocumented migrants.
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"And I think, once again, when we get back to the [Kilmar Ábrego] García debate — the very, very famous García case, he went before a trial twice, not once but twice. And then after that, if he came back to the United States — he was supposed to be deported regardless. If he came back to the United States, he would go before habeas. And then you'd have to determine if he still has the threat that kept him from being deported to El Salvador, his home of origin?"
Keilar asked whether the president should uphold the Constitution, reiterating Welker's question.
"Of course," he answered emphatically.
"See, those are pretty easy questions for you to answer. You're also not a lawyer, I would mention."
"I'm a doctor. That's correct," answered McCormick.
Keilar said that the questions to Trump were not particularly difficult. It prompted her to question why it was so hard for Trump to answer and whether it should be a hard question.
"I thought he did, as a matter of fact," said McCormick. "If you think about how many interviews he takes and how much he publicly speaks, it's pretty amazing. I know that I make a lot of gaffes, and I'm not saying this a gaffe, but I'm just saying that if he's saying that he's going to have his lawyers talk to Supreme Court, argue a case before the Supreme Court, whatever the Supreme Court says is constitutional, he's going to abide by it. I think that's saying he's going to abide by the Constitution."
See the clip below or at the link here.
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