In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News from the Oval Office on Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump expressed his disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship. However, he noted that a recent ruling related to independent agency employees “more than makes up for it,” as it restores his ability to fire them at will.
This interview took place just hours after the Supreme Court decided, in a narrow 5-4 vote, to maintain birthright citizenship. The president has long claimed that such citizenship is unconstitutional, and he was present for oral arguments in a related Supreme Court case back in April.
The recent ruling gained attention following Trump’s dismissal of former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who subsequently sued him, asserting that her termination was unconstitutional according to the FTC Act. This act specifies that independent agency employees can only be removed for reasons like “inefficiency or misconduct.” The court’s decision allows the president to terminate members of the FTC and other similar agencies without cause.
“Yeah, it was disappointing, but from my perspective, I think it more than compensates,” Trump told Breitbart News regarding the birthright citizenship decision. “It’s been nearly a century since they removed power from FDR, and presidents have been trying to regain it ever since.”
He added, “If you think back, Taft had that power before it was stripped away during FDR’s time. Nearly 100 years, nearly 100 years of trying to reclaim it. It’s the right move, the right ruling. But honestly, no one was certain how the birthright ruling would unfold. I ended up winning that one, 6-3. A major victory for us.”
Many media outlets have highlighted the Slaughter ruling as possibly the most significant of this term.
“Honestly, I think this is being seen as the biggest story. Bigger than the birthright issue, perhaps even bigger,” he stated. “It was a win. Sure, I dislike the birthright ruling. It seems absurd. We’re practically the only country that does it, and it comes with high costs and potential issues.”
“Now, we’ve realized during this Supreme Court term that we can address this via Congress. Initially, there was a thought we might need a constitutional amendment, but that seems unnecessary now,” he continued. “We’re aiming to get it through Congress, and ideally, it would be great to pass the SAVE America Act first.”
In discussing the SAVE America Act, which seeks to safeguard elections by enforcing proof of citizenship for voter registration, mandating voter ID, and eliminating universal mail-in voting, Trump remarked on the filibuster. He stated, “If you get rid of the filibuster, you can accomplish anything.”
“You could enact SAVE America, you could initiate Kate’s Law, and even more proposals that haven’t been considered yet,” he claimed.
Trump mentioned that a few Republican senators are standing against this change, and he predicted that Democrats would act swiftly to eliminate the filibuster if they regained power.
“We have a handful of Republican senators complicating matters. It’s unfortunate. There’s Lisa Murkowski, maybe Sen. Tillis, Sen. Cassidy. There’s valid reasons, I guess. But it’s bizarre to think we can’t move forward when a senator is obstructing the progress we need, considering Democrats will likely push for this within the first hour of taking back control.”
On Wednesday, Trump amplified his critique of Senate Republicans, once again urging their removal from office.
“I can’t fathom why the Republican Senate doesn’t remove a member appointed by radical leftists like Harry Reid and Barack Obama!” he posted on Truth Social. “She has been unfairly judging Republicans for years, and it’s time for Majority Leader John Thune to take action. Fire her now!”
