President Donald Trump blasted the federal courts for a second day in a row after his efforts to implement a travel ban were suspended and warned that the judiciary could be placing Americans in “peril.”
“Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!” the president tweeted yesterday, after uncharacteristically taking a nearly day-long break from Twitter.
“I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!”
The saga began on January 27 when Trump issued a blanket ban on all refugees, as well as on travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. That sparked a worldwide furor, prompting protest marches and demonstrations in cities and at airports across the United States.
On Friday, a federal judge in Seattle, James Robart, blocked the ban nationwide pending a wider legal review. On Saturday Trump angrily fired off multiple tweets on the matter, stating that the “so-called judge” was “ridiculous” — and drawing criticism from Democrats and others who said the president was dangerously close to interfering with the judicial branch of government.
A leading Democratic senator, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said Trump seemed “intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.” Then early yesterday, a US appeals court rejected an urgent government request to reinstate Trump’s controversial ban.