It was the interviewer Kristen Welker who in the NBC program Meet the Press brought up Trump's effort to deport millions of people who are illegally in the country. Foreign Minister Marco Rubio has assured that everyone has the right to due process (approximately fair treatment), a special concept in the US Constitution, writes The New York Times.
But when asked if Trump agrees, the answer was:
I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.
Kristen Welker then reminded him that "due process" is stated in the fifth amendment of the Constitution from 1791.
I don't know, repeated Trump.
It's possible that it says so. But if you mean that – then we would need to have a million or two million or three million trials.
Trump's administration has received harsh criticism for disregarding the law by not ensuring that everyone deported from the US actually lacks the right to be there.
"Due process" is also brought up in the 14th amendment of the US Constitution, stating that no person shall be "deprived of liberty or property without due process of law" and that the state "shall not deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws".
Welker asks: Don't you, as president, need to uphold the Constitution?
I don't know, must I answer again, continues Trump.
I have brilliant lawyers who work for me, and they must clearly follow what the Supreme Court says.
