President Trump suffered a major loss Tuesday when a federal judge in California ruled that his military occupation of Los Angeles was illegal. Trump’s response was highly unsettling. Speaking to reporters, he sounded entirely unconstrained. He threatened to resend the military to L.A. and declared that the military is now definitely going into Chicago. He let out a strange, angry rant about crime in D.C. that sounded frankly pretty nuts, worrying a variety of legal observers. And he abruptly ended the presser amid another display of anger. We talked to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, who explains the nuts-and-bolts of the judge’s L.A. ruling and looks ahead to the possibility of a major inter-branch confrontation with Trump if the courts continue to block his military occupations. McQuade explains why all these displays from Trump show that we’re in “a combustible situation waiting for something very bad to happen.” Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
PODCAST
Trump’s Angry, Crazed Rants to Media Unnerve Legal Experts: “Very Bad”
As Trump seethes at a court ruling that his occupation of L.A. was illegal, former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade explains why the ruling was so on point—and why his response signals a frightening escalation.
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