President Donald Trump has said it is unclear whether Americans have the right to guarantee due-process rights guaranteed by the US Constitution.
Trump commented in a tape-recorded interview on Florida’s Mar-a-Lago property on Friday and aired on NBC news programs Meet the Press and Kristen Welker.
Welker asked Trump if he agreed to the US Secretary of State. Marco Rubio said last month that all people in the United States are entitled to legitimate procedures. This generally requires the government to provide notices and hearings before taking certain adverse legal actions.
“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” Trump said.
The fifth amendment to the Constitution provides a “legal process of law.” In other words, a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime. The 14th Amendment also states that “equal protection of the law cannot be denied to anyone within their jurisdiction.”
Trump added that his lawyers “will clearly follow what the Supreme Court said.”
He said he is pushing “some of the worst and most dangerous people on the planet” to deport him, but that court is in his way.
“I’ve been elected to take them from here to hell and the courts are preventing me from doing that,” Trump said.
On April 19, a Supreme Court judge temporarily banned the Trump administration from deporting groups of Venezuelan immigrants accused of being members of the gang. The Trump administration, which summoned the rarely used 18th century wartime law, urged the judiciary to lift or narrow order.
US Secretary Attorney General John Saurer said in his Supreme Court that detainees have received advance notice of removal and have “appropriate time” to file a request for judicial review.
The Trump administration has deported hundreds of men without providing evidence of gang membership. In one prominent case of Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia, authorities ignored a court order that was supposed to protect him from deportation to El Salvador. A US immigration and customs enforcement lawyer later admitted that his removal was a “administrative error.”
Third season?
Separately, Trump said in an interview with NBC that pursuing a third president’s term “is not something I’m trying to do.”
“That’s something you’re not allowed to do as far as I know,” Trump said.
The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution partly states:
Separately, Trump said the US economy is in a “transition period,” but he hopes it will do “fantasy” despite the economic turmoil caused by tariffs.
When Welker pointed out that some Wall Street analysts say there is a growing chance of a recession, he provided a sharp pushback.
“Well, you know, you say, some people on Wall Street say,” Trump said. “Well, I’ll tell you something else. Some people on Wall Street say we have the biggest economy in history.”
He also said he was blamed for a 0.3% decline in the US economy in the first quarter, and that he was not responsible for it.
“I think the good part is the Trump economy, and the bad part is the Biden economy, because he did a terrible job.”
Trump also said he would not fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who repeatedly criticized the president for not being able to move and lower interest rates before the Fed’s chairs end in 2026.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire Powell in recent weeks. His attack came after Powell showed that the Federal Reserve, which is responsible for implementing US monetary policy, would keep key interest rates without changing, while seeking “more clarity” about the impact of policy changes in areas such as immigration, taxation, regulation and tariffs.
In an interview, Trump also said he would extend the June 19 deadline for selling U.S. assets of Tiktok, a short video app used by 170 million Americans.
“I…I want to do that,” Trump said.
Trump said there is a “sweet spot” on the app after helping young voters beat the 2024 presidential election, adding that “Titktok is very interesting, but will be protected.”