Trump raises eyebrows as he replies 'I don't know' when asked if he's obligated to uphold Constitution

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump left jaws hanging with his response during a 'Meet the Press' interview that aired Sunday, May 4, when he was asked point-blank if he is obligated to uphold the Constitution as President.

During a tense exchange about immigration, NBC’s Kristen Welker specifically referenced the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the larger question of due process for migrants. 

Donald Trump's eyebrow-raising response to 'due process' question

“Your Secretary of State says everyone who’s here, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process,” Welker said, before asking, “Do you agree, Mr President?”

“I don’t know,” Trump bluntly responded. “I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.”

Welker pressed back with, “Well, the Fifth Amendment says as much.” But Trump wasn’t ready to concede. “It seems – it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials,” he said. 

“We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth. 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," he added, Mediaite reported.

When Welker circled back and asked directly whether he needs to uphold the Constitution as president, Trump doubled down.

“I don’t know. 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 explained. "What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. They have a different interpretation.”

Deportation chaos and a Supreme Court directive 

This didn’t come out of nowhere—it’s part of a much bigger legal tug-of-war Donald Trump’s administration has been engaged in over immigration.

His aggressive deportation push has been getting tripped up in court multiple times.

In fact, Trump has made it a point to go after the judiciary. He’s lashed out at judges, floated the idea of impeaching them, and appeared to ignore a Supreme Court ruling involving Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.

Garcia was deported to a prison for terrorists in El Salvador, and the Supreme Court told the Trump administration to facilitate his return.

But Trump isn’t moving fast on that, saying in the interview that his lawyers may need to go back to the Supreme Court to ask what they even meant by “facilitate.”

Donald Trump's tariff tantrums and economic blame game

The hour-long taped conversation (filmed Friday) covered everything from recessions to China to Donald Trump teasing a third term.

On the economy, Welker grilled him about the US shrinking in the first quarter and when he would stop blaming former president Joe Biden and finally own up to the status quo. 

“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job," Trump responded.

When asked whether he was worried about a looming recession—something Wall Street analysts are beginning to whisper about—Trump brushed it off and turned up the tough talk on China.

Despite weeks of signaling interest in a deal, he was now justifying the trade war, possibly annoyed that China’s President Xi Jinping hasn’t blinked under the pressure of his sky-high 145 percent tariffs, according to the New York Times.

“We were losing hundreds of billions of dollars with China,” Trump insisted. “Now we’re essentially not doing business with China. Therefore, we’re saving hundreds of billions of dollars. Very simple.”

And when the topic of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war came up, Trump suggested he’s tired of playing diplomat. He admitted he nearly bailed on negotiations and might still walk away.

“Well, there will be a time when I will say, ‘OK, keep going. Keep being stupid and keep fighting,’” he insisted.

You can watch the complete interview here:

Donald Trump slammed for his response to 'due process' question 

Critics of Trump on social media roasted him for his response.

"How will MAGA justify this? 'He didn’t really mean it,'" one posted on X.

"Rather remarkable a President would say such a thing," another wrote.

"Constitution? What’s that?…" someone else snarked.

"Idiot in chief," a comment read.

"By this response, Trump disavowed his oath of office as President of the United States," another alleged. 

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