White House Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields has defended the Trump administration's decision to deport some 250 Venezuelan nationals over the weekend despite a federal judge's order to halt the flights, saying that the judiciary acted too slowly to intervene.
In an interview with NewsNation, Fields said that:
"The president will always follow the law, but this judge was too slow. We played a little game of 'catch me if you can,' and guess what, the judge wasn't able to catch us on this one"
The order in question was given by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who issued a verbal order on Saturday afternoon to stop the deportations and instructed that any planes in flight should be turned around. However, this directive was not included in his written ruling, a distinction that has become central to the Trump administration's defense.
Fields also argued the judge overstepped on President Trump's authority, echoing administration officials who have claimed the president's authority under the Alien Enemies Act supersedes such court orders.
According to an exclusive Axios report published on Monday, two senior administration officials stated that the deportation flights were already over international waters when Judge Boasberg issued the verbal order to halt them, with one official telling the outlet that "they were already outside of U.S. airspace" and that he believed "the order is not applicable."
Another official told Axios:
"We wanted them on the ground first, before a judge could get the case, but this is how it worked out"
Trump called Boasberg a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge" after his ruling and urged his impeachment, marking his first such call since taking office. A GOP lawmaker also introduced articles of impeachment against him, saying he committed high crimes and misdemeanors.
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public response to Trump on Tuesday, stating that "for more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."
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