President Donald Trump tweeted after Saturday’s rally in Wisconsin an attack on Judge Andrew Napolitano, claiming the judge had come to him privately to ask for a Supreme Court nomination.
“Thank you to brilliant and highly respected attorney Alan Dershowitz for destroying the very dumb legal argument of ‘Judge’ Andrew Napolitano….” Trump began, following his praise of Harvard professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz with an immediate pivot to an attack on Napolitano.
“….Ever since Andrew came to my office to ask that I appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court, and I said NO, he has been very hostile! Also asked for pardon for his friend. A good ‘pal’ of low ratings Shepard Smith,” the president concluded.
Thank you to brilliant and highly respected attorney Alan Dershowitz for destroying the very dumb legal argument of “Judge” Andrew Napolitano….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2019
….Ever since Andrew came to my office to ask that I appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court, and I said NO, he has been very hostile! Also asked for pardon for his friend. A good “pal” of low ratings Shepard Smith.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2019
Trump appeared to be referring to the fallout from the recently-released Mueller report, which Napolitano has argued on his Fox News Digital show “Judge Napolitano’s Chambers” stands as proof that the president obstructed justice.
“Prosecutors prosecute people who interfere with government functions and that’s what the president did by obstruction, where is this going to end? I don’t know, but I am disappointed in the behavior of the president,” Napolitano said, calling that behavior “immoral,” “criminal,” “defenseless” and “condemnable.” (RELATED: Roger Stone’s Shock And Awe Arrest Is ‘An American Nightmare,’ Says Judge Napolitano)
Dershowitz responded to Napolitano’s comments by noting during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle” that because it was within the president’s purview to terminate the investigation or fire special counsel Robert Mueller, any attempts he made to do so could not be described as “obstruction.”
“In my introduction to ‘The Mueller Report,’ I go through the elements of obstruction of justice,” Dershowitz explained. “The act itself has to be illegal. It can’t be an act that is authorized by Article II of the Constitution.”