President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at journalist Kaitlan Collins after she questioned why his administration is refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order in a high-profile deportation case.
During Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s visit to the White House, the CNN reporter asked Trump why he had not followed the court’s directive to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident and Salvadoran national who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison last month.
“You said if the Supreme Court said someone needed to be returned, you’d abide by that,” Collins reminded him.
Trump, visibly irritated, cut her off and appeared to say he didn’t need to answer her question.
“Why don’t you just say, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country?’” he said, before adding: “That’s why nobody watches you anymore. You have no credibility.”
The Supreme Court told the Trump administration last week that it must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. Officials have said Abrego Garcia’s deportation was the result of an “administrative error.”
But the Department of Justice has been adamant the court lacks jurisdiction over what it claims is now a matter of “international relations.”
During Monday’s meeting, Bukele told reporters he had no intention of intervening in Abrego Garcia’s case.
“How can I return him to the United States?” he said. “Like if I smuggle him into the United States?”
“Of course I’m not going to do it,” he added. “The question is preposterous. We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists.”
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Abrego Garcia was in the U.S. under a protective order that kept him out of El Salvador, and his attorneys have said he was fleeing gang violence.