Trump admits he’s iffy on the whole due process thing

It has long been evident from his actions that President Donald Trump does not respect the constitutional principle of due process. And now, he has admitted it himself.

In an interview with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker of NBC News that aired on Sunday morning, Trump made clear that he does not concern himself with the pesky details of the Constitution—despite the fact that the Oath of Office he has now taken twice requires him to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”

When Welker pressed Trump on the administration’s refusal to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from the El Salvador prison they deported him to—despite the Supreme Court’s order that the administration “facilitate” his release from custody and officials’ admission that Abrego Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”—the president said that the decision is one for El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, to make. (In the Oval Office last month, Bukele said he would not send Abrego Garcia, an undocumented immigrant originally from El Salvador, back to the United States. The U.S. government has alleged, without presenting verifiable evidence, that he is a member of the MS-13 gang.)

Pressing Trump further, Welker said: “Your secretary of state says everyone who’s here, citizens and non citizens, deserve due process. Do you agree?”

“I don’t know,” Trump replied. “I’m not a lawyer.” (His administration’s actions—which include seeking to deport international student protesters who criticized Israel’s war in Gaza and sending a group of Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador seemingly based on their tattoos—suggest he and his lawyers do not believe in due process.)

When Welker reminded him of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to trial by grand jury and due process, Trump suggested it would be too cumbersome to actually honor in practice. “It might say that,” he replied, referring to the Fifth Amendment, “but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or two million or three million trials.”

WELKER: Your secretary of state says everyone who’s here, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process. Do you agree?

TRUMP: I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.

WELKER: Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution?

TRUMP: I don’t know pic.twitter.com/xRwDh8sm0X

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 4, 2025

Trump continued to double down, saying the United States is home to “some of the worst, most dangerous people on Earth, and I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it.”

“But even given those numbers that you’re talking about,” Welker continued, “don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States?”

Again, Trump’s answer did not inspire confidence that the president can be trusted to uphold the guiding principles of the country. “I don’t know,” Trump replied. “I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.” He added that his lawyers “have a different interpretation” of the Supreme Court’s ruling from those who believe it requires the administration to try to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States.

In the wide-ranging interview, Trump also attacked Welker for some of her questions (“Why don’t you ask it a different way?” he chided, when she asked about his response to criticisms that he’s taking the country down an authoritarian path); refused to rule out using military force to take Greenland; refused to rule out that his tariffs might cause a recession; and claimed he has been trolling in previously speculating on running for an unconstitutional third term (“This is not something I’m looking to do,” he said).

But his comments regarding due process and the Constitution may be the most telling about how Trump sees his role in upholding—or breaking—the rule of law. As a protester calling for Abrego Garcia’s return told my colleague Isabela Dias on Thursday: “If we break due process in this country, we’re all doomed. Everyone can be put in jail.”