Some GOP Lawmakers at Odds Over Trump's Clash With Judge

Some GOP lawmakers say President Donald Trump's clash with a judge who issued an order blocking his deportation flights is problematic, reports The Hill.

Trump on Tuesday described U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg as an unelected "troublemaker and agitator."

Still, the Trump administration carried out two deportation flights to El Salvador, a move "most congressional Republicans will think … is really going right up to the line on having a constitutional crisis and that situations like this need to be avoided in the future," a Republican strategist told the news outlet.

"They do believe in due process. There will be future situations where hearings are necessary, and continuing to go against judicial rulings will be politically precarious for Trump," the strategist warned.

Former New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg told The Hill that Trump's attack on Boasberg puts GOP lawmakers in a problematic position.

"When you arbitrarily try to cancel the rule of law, which is what Trump is trying to do, and leave by the edict of an individual, whether he is president or not, you're creating almost a banana republic-type of event," he warned.

"The fact that members of the Republican Party would introduce articles of impeachment [against the judge] is an inexcusable abrogation of their obligation as members of the Congress," he said.

"How does it affect Republicans? Significantly. Because even though senior Republicans in the Senate may disagree — and hopefully, would disagree strongly — it's the president who's head of the party and is defining the party," Gregg said.

"If you're running as a Republican against a Democrat or anybody else, you're going to be painted with the brush that you don't think the rule of law should apply in America anymore."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, last month said the White House "should comply with court rulings."

"We have a judicial system. If you don't like the ruling, you can appeal the ruling, and you can follow that through. But we are a nation of laws, and it is not necessarily for you or I to be the final arbiter here. This is why we entrust the judiciary with this responsibility," she said.

Added Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., the courts have a "valid role and need to be listened to."

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