Another lie corrected...
The Trump administration is no stranger to spreading misinformation, yet even by its own standards, the latest incident has left viewers shocked.
The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, decided to smear a federal judge who ordered the White House to hold off on its massive deportations.
It comes after Trump called for U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s impeachment, not because the judge did something wrong, but because he issued a ruling the president didn’t like in an Alien Enemies Act case.
Boasberg has issued an order temporarily banning the administration from removing migrants from the United States under an 18th-century law that the president invoked to proceed with the deportations of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members.
According to the statute, the Alien Enemies Act can be invoked in the event of war, which only Congress can declare under the US constitution, or in the event of “predatory incursions” by state actors that amount to an invasion. Federal courts are able to review whether Trump satisfied the conditions to declare an incursion under the Alien Enemies Act in the first instance.
At a press conference with reporters in the White House, Leavitt insisted that the mass deportations would continue despite the courts questioning their legality.
She then said: “I would just like to point out that the judge in this case, is essentially trying to say that the President does not have the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists from our American soil.
“That is an egregious abuse of the bench.”
Leavitt went on to add: “This judge, judge Boasberg is a Democrat activist he was appointed by Barack Obama, his wife has donated more than $10,000 to Democrats and he has consistently shown his disdain for this President and his policies.”
NBC News’s Garrett Haake was forced to step in, correcting Leavitt’s mistake. “Judge Boasberg was originally appointed by George W. Bush, and then elevated by Barack Obama,” Haake said. “Just feel like I should clear that up.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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