Donald Trump on Wednesday night heaped praise on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, along with others on the recently scandal-scarred panel.
In a wide-ranging and apparently last-minute interview with right-wing podcaster Dan Bongino, Trump also made his usual pronouncements about the “sham” hush money trial in Manhattan—which is now in jury deliberations. The former president complained about his gag order, slammed the “unbelievable” judge (“they got themselves a beauty”) and even took aim at the jury for asking Judge Juan Merchan to repeat his instructions.
“It’s very confusing to people, the bottom line is there is no crime,” Trump claimed, noting, “It’s been good for poll numbers anyway.”
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He blasted President Joe Biden, claiming the trial, in which Trump faces 34 state felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records in order to cover up payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, “absolutely comes from the White House,” claiming, “it’s the way [Biden] wants to win.”
But perhaps most notably in the interview, Trump expanded on comments he made earlier in the day on Truth Social lauding the Supreme Court—especially Justice Alito, who has found himself in the middle of a scandal after it was revealed that a pair of flags tied to the Jan. 6 insurrection flew outside of his home in Virginia and a vacation home in New Jersey, respectively.
Just hours earlier on Wednesday, Alito refused to recuse himself from any cases surrounding the 2020 presidential election or Jan. 6, 2021, riots, telling lawmakers in a letter obtained by NBC that the accusations, first reported by The New York Times, “do not meet the conditions for recusal” based on the Supreme Court’s latest ethics code.
“I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request,” he wrote.
The court is considering two major cases related to Jan. 6, including whether presidential immunity prevents Trump from being tried on election interference charges.
Trump initially cheered the justice’s decision on Truth Social, congratulating Alito “for showing the INTELLIGENCE, COURAGE, and ‘GUTS’ to refuse stepping aside from making a decision on anything January 6th related.”
He continued: “All U.S. Judges, Justices, and Leaders should have such GRIT - Our Country would be far more advanced than its current status as A BADLY FAILING NATION, headed by the Worst President in American History, Crooked Joe Biden!”
Boasting that he knows “Washington better than anybody” to Bongino, Trump called Alito “a tough guy and very strong,” when asked if he would take a “ridiculous” hush money conviction to SCOTUS.
“[Alito] put a great statement today..I gave him a lot of credit for it,” Trump continued.
“Alito’s great, [Clarence] Thomas is great, the three that I put in... I mean it’s a little early, but people are starting to warm up to them. But they’ve got to be strong, they’ve got to be tough. Alito’s been a very tough, very good... and Thomas has been good... and we’re going to see how it all works out.”
The former president did take issue with “the way they are treated.”
Trump ended the chat claiming it would be a “very different world” had he been elected president and instituted a variety of his favored policies.
“It is my honor to be fighting,” he said as he finished the call.
