Trump unsure on upholding Constitution

Also says 'I don't know' when asked in interview about due process

By: Joey Garrison
USA Today

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump saids he does not know whether he's required to uphold the Constitution as president in a new interview as he defended his administration's actions to remove people who are in the country illegally.
..... Trump's comments follow the Supreme Court in April [2025] saying the Trump administration must "facilitate" the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland sheet metal worker and father who was wrongfully deported to an El Salvador prison without receiving a trial.
..... "I don't know," Trump said when asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" 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."
..... The Trump administration has said it doesn't need to even request Abrego Garcia's release from El Salvador, where he;s form originally, because of how the court worded its decision. However, critics have argued such statements show the administrations 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 was 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 oht3er gang.
..... Pressed whether his administration is following 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 - has the final say on national security matters.
..... 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.
..... "I have the power to ask for him to come back if I'm instructed by the oratory 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 [2025] at the White House Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he has no plans to release Abrego Garcia and returned him to the United States.

GOP considers work requirements for Medicaid

..... Congressional Republicans are weighing steep cuts to Medicaid in there effort to piece together a landmark tax-cut bill they hope to enact by July 4. [2025]
..... Trump "shows an openness" to work requirements for Medicaid, Jason Smith, chair of the House of Representative Ways and Means Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday" May 4. [2025]
..... Medicaid provides health care coverage to 83 million low-income people and is jointly funded by the federal government and states.
..... One option with broad Republican support is implementing a minimum work requirement for adult recipients.
..... "The president has been very clear he doen snot want to cut benefits for individuals on Medicaid and Medicare. He wants to create efficiencies and reforms. he shows an openness to work requirements," Smith said.
..... Other federal welfare programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also know as SNAP or food stamps, have work requirements for some recipients. Republicans have also floated expanded work requirements for SNAP to shrink agricultural spending in line with the House budget plan.
..... Most adults on Medicaid work full- or part-time, and most who do not are full-time caregivers or disabled, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
..... A federal Medicaid work requirement could lead to as many as 5.2 million adults aged 19 to 55 losing eligibility, according to an analysis by Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.
..... Asked by Fox News host Shannon Bream about whether the tax bill would impose higher taxes on high-income individuals, Smith said Republicans' priority is to provide tax relief for small businesses, working families and farmers.
..... "There's no problem to eliminate loopholes hat the wealthy have benefited from to make sure that working-calls Americans aren't paying taxes on tips," Smith said.

Trump says he won't remove Fed chair

..... Also dur9ing NBC's "Meet the Press" episode that was taped in Florida on May 2 [2025] and aired May 4, [2025] Trump said he will not remove Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Board Chairman before Powell's term ends in May 2026. And the president repeated calls for the Fed chair to lower interest rates.
..... "Well. he should lower them. And at some point, he will. He'd rather not because he's not a fan of mine. You know, he just doesn't like me because I think he;s a total stiff," Trump said.
..... On April 2, [2025] Trump imposed a 10% tariff on most countries, along with higher tariff rates for many trading partners that were then suspended for 90 days. He has also imposed 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 14% tariff on China. Trump's administration is negotiating with over 15 countries for trade deals.
..... During the interview with NBC News, Trump declined to rule out making some of the tariffs permanent. "No, I wouldn't do that because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?" he said.
..... Trump acknowledged he had been "very tough with China," essentially cutting off trade between the world's tow large economies, but said Beijing now wanted to reach an agreement.

..... Contributing Reuters; Aysha Bagchi, USA Today

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