Trump continues feud with Chief Justice Roberts

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Trump continues feud with Chief Justice Roberts

President Trump blasts 'out of control' judicial activism of the Ninth Circuit; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," November 22, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Hopefully we have shown some light on the Ninth Circuit. I know that Chief Justice Roberts, John Roberts, has been speaking a little bit about it. And I think we have a lot of respect for him, I like him and I respect him. But I think we have to use some common sense. The Ninth Circuit, everybody knows it's totally out of control. And what they are doing, what they are saying, the opinions are very unfair to law enforcement. They can't believe the decisions that are being made by these judges.

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MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS: President Trump expressing his frustration with parts of the federal judiciary on this Thanksgiving Day as he looks at the immigration laws, a pet project of his. Also, the president hinting at the possibility that the commander in chief could go visit the troops sometime soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Very much been doing the job, but I'll see you when you are the United States, or maybe I will see you over there. You never know what is going to happen.

I know what you have to do, and I have seen it and a lot of different forms, but I have seen the waters that you have to go through, and very few people can do it. It takes special people to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: The commander in chief calling the troops and visiting with some Coast Guard folks in person. Let's bring in our panel: Michael Warren, senior writer at The Weekly Standard; Alex Wayne, White House editor for Bloomberg News, and Tom Rogan, commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. Tom, your thoughts on the commander in chief. He has not been to a war zone yet. What do you think, is he going soon?

TOM ROGAN, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I think he is going soon. I think we will see that certainly before Christmas, but potentially even in the next couple of weeks. I think Afghanistan will be the natural place that he will go.

One of the interesting things with the president is that you do see, and we've obviously seen with Chief Justice Roberts, the tension about the separation of powers, the notion of constitutional powers. The president earlier today as well was speaking to a Naval officer who was talking about nuclear physics, oddly. And it was very striking to see, and this is where I think you see President Trump having a pretty good rapport with the military brass, the elites, the four-star generals as well as the enlisted personnel, that he does have a deference to their expertise. I think he likes the fact that they their job is to close with and destroy the enemy, personally.

But at the same time, I think it is to the president's credit. He's at his best in a way with the military in the sense that he defers to better judgment, but he also has a respect for it and he is willing to listen. And that earlier discussion with a nuclear physics guy, the officer today, there was a disagreement, but he was like, OK, I sort of agree with you. You don't see that with other people. So I think the opportunity for the White House coming off the back of the midterms to go to a war zone is to say actually, the president, as George W. Bush was to a degree, in the comfort zone.

EMANUEL: Alex, we remember George W. Bush going to war zones on the holidays. President Obama made several visits. Your thoughts on this president as our White House editor on the panel?

ALEX WAYNE, BLOOMBERG NEWS: It's puzzling he hasn't got already. By this point in his presidency, Barack Obama had gone to Iraq once, he'd gone to Afghanistan once. And in just a couple of weeks, on December 3rd of 2010, Barack Obama went to Afghanistan for a second time. So it's not clear really why Trump hasn't gone yet. Jim Mattis has said he advised him not to go to certain places, didn't name any of those places. But it suggests that perhaps things are maybe worse in Afghanistan than the public really understands at this point, that it's just not safe enough for the president to visit.

MICHAEL WARREN, WEEKLY STANDARD: I think this gets to a sort of complication with a trip for the president to a combat zone in the Middle East, which is that the president himself has stated his opposition to the United States military being involved in Afghanistan. He sort of was pulled kicking and screaming by his advisers to continue into our engagement and Afghanistan. I think he's very frustrated with the way that has gone since he agreed to that southern, south Asia policy as he did last year. The same in Syria, fighting ISIS. I think he wants to be done and out of there.

So would a trip to visit the troops send a mixed message? Would it may be perceived as an endorsement? I think those are the kinds of things that this very public relations-conscious president is thinking about. It's interesting to hear him tease that. But I'm skeptical that he's going to follow through.

EMANUEL: What do you gentlemen make up the back and forth between the president and the chief justice of the Supreme Court? Michael, let's start with you.

WARREN: I think he is certainly not the first president to grumble about a court ruling going against him and against his administration. I think what is different here is the public way that he is going about it and the personal way he seems to be taking this, that he talks about this judge was appointed by a Democrat, appointed by Obama. I think that is where you are getting Justice Roberts really kind of feeling like he has to defend the impartiality, or rather the independence of the judiciary. That we may be nominated by presidents of a certain party, but at least ideally we are that presidents guy on the bench -- you do hear this. Neil Gorsuch, the president's first major accomplishment, getting him on the Supreme Court, very early on in his Supreme Court tenure ruled against the president on an immigration issue. So you often see this where these judges rule against them. The president seems to take it too personally.

EMANUEL: Your thoughts?

WAYNE: I think this president has upset so many norms and expectations that we had for the presidency before he took office, and one of those is in challenging institutions that his predecessors would never have so publicly challenged. The courts are one of them. The Federal Reserve is another example. He has repeatedly criticized the Federal Reserve and the chairman of the Fed personally for raising interest rates. You just didn't hear that from previous presidents. It's taken some getting used to. I think there are some consequences to it. I think he risks shaking confidence in those institutions by criticizing them.

EMANUEL: Tom, your thoughts?

ROGAN: I think analytically, you look at the traditional role of the judiciary in terms of the constitutional binding separate but equal, Chief Justice Roberts had to stand up for the court. We all know that there are political ideologies behind different judges, but it's the principle there must be equal justice under the law. Chief justice had to stand up for it.

But again, it was quite striking today, President Trump, very presidential, and an unusual sense for the president, in a sense quite normal in the sense that he was having this disagreement politely with a Naval officer, but he also said Chief Justice Roberts, I respect the guy. There is no animosity that you normally see. And sometimes I think with Trump, it's almost like he is out on the yacht tweeting, and then he comes back into that moment and he thinks about it. As long as someone has the respect -- you're the president, he doesn't make it personal. If you do that with the president, I think he listens for.

EMANUEL: OK, so in our brief time left in this segment, I want to briefly get to House Judiciary Republicans calling former attorney general at Loretta lynch and James Comey to the Hill, briefly.

ROGAN: I think very briefly what they should have done, and what probably will happen ultimately, is you have an open and a closed session. There is some classified stuff there, some of it very classified because of foreign allies. But do it both way. I think Comey has a point, though, that there is some political agenda here. Just do both, open and closed.

EMANUEL: Alex?

WAYNE: As a journalist, I'm a big fan of Jim Comey having a public hearing instead of a closed-door interview with those Republicans.

WARREN: And if it is closed, there will be leaks from the Republicans and leaks from the Democrats. Nobody will agree and what was actually said, and I think that is a problem in getting clarity of what they are looking for.

EMANUEL: Is it too late? Should they have done this before the midterms?

WARREN: Yes, I think so. And look, I think Jim Comey doesn't do himself any favors by getting out ahead of his lawyer's statement, making this tweet here. I think it ultimately makes him look a little petty. And the lawyer's statement should speak for itself.

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