AP’s Jonathan Lemire: Trump Has a ‘Sense of Betrayal’ About Gorsuch and Kavanaugh

AP’s Jonathan Lemire: Trump Has a ‘Sense of Betrayal’ About Gorsuch and Kavanaugh

President Donald Trump is not happy with the Supreme Court justices he’s appointed, according to the AP’s Jonathan Lemire. Lemire spoke to MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday about the President’s reaction to yesterday’s ruling about his tax returns.

“You’re right, Willie, that the west Wing’s response was somewhat schizophrenic to the rulings yesterday,” Lemire told Willie Geist.

“The evolution from the President’s real anger on Twitter in the immediate moments after the announcements and then it sort of evolved as the day went on. I think politically we’ll see what sort of fallout we have here. There’s a sense the tax returns won’t see the light of day, won’t be made public until after the election. So in that sense there was a sigh of relief from the White House, if that indeed holds true.”

“But the anger from the President was at that the court itself, and in particular, according to our reporting, the justices that he appointed, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. As you said earlier, there’s always this sense of loyalty with the President, he demands it from his appointees, from his staff, from those in his circle, even though he doesn’t always, of course, exhibit it in return.”

“As he is fighting for re-election here and is down in the polls, one of the arguments his campaign has made time and again is the idea that he has appointed two justices.”

“And he’s saying give me another four years, I will have the chance most likely to appoint one if not more Supreme Court justices to give you, meaning his supporters, the kind of rulings that you want.”

“He’s had a series of setbacks from the Supreme Court in recent weeks and to this point, though some of his anger has been directed at Chief Justice Roberts, who has frustrated him, according to our reporting more or less since he took office, in the last few weeks, and in particular yesterday, it was on Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. A real sense of betrayal, as one person close to the President put it to me.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.

Darragh Roche

Darragh Roche is Political Media Editor

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