Trump ratchets up fight against judges, rivals

President Trump has put his foot firmly back on the gas of getting revenge against his political enemies and those who don’t comply with his wishes.

The White House on Wednesday escalated its attacks against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, calling his attempt to halt Trump’s efforts to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members an “egregious abuse of the bench.”

That came after Trump called on Boasberg to be impeached — a sentiment echoed by other Republican lawmakers — prompting a rare statement by Chief Justice John Roberts who pushed back on those efforts.

Trump also has a top political rival on his mind — his predecessor. The president claimed this week that pardons issued by former President Biden should be void because they were signed by autopen. He also revoked the Secret Service protection of two of Biden’s children: Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden. The former president had extended his children’s security protections for six months — something Trump also did for his children after his first term ended.

Sources close to Trump World say he has been emboldened in part by unwavering support from Republicans on Capitol Hill, which he didn’t always have during his first term.

“He is firing on all cylinders by exploring unprecedented avenues of executive branch power. Right now, there’s no restraint from the legislative branch. The House and the Senate are just 100 percent compliant, and he’s trying to challenge any restraint from the judicial branch,” a source close to the White House said. “The absolute lack of legislative pushback has emboldened him to take more power.”

Another source said any outside voices calling him corrupt or a dictator, especially coming from Democrats, haven’t impacted the president.

“I think Trump is in very much, ‘I don’t give a s‑‑‑’ kind of attitude about the complaints,” a Republican strategist said.

Trump’s victory lap speech at the Department of Justice on Friday appeared to be a jumping off point that sparked a spree of actions like invoking a wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, later that evening. The administration used that executive order to deport Venezuelan migrants it says are suspected gang members.

That led to a full-out fight with the federal judiciary, which held a rare Saturday hearing before a judge, Boasberg, who tried to put a stop to the deportations in part so he could have more time to look at the merits of the case — not necessarily to issue a blanket condemnation of the Trump administration’s actions.

Boasberg over the weekend ordered flights carrying Venezuelan migrants, who were allegedly linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, heading to El Salvador to be turned around. But the administration said the flights were already out of U.S. territory at the time and suggested the judge did not have the authority to intervene.

The White House maintains its moves are not retribution but a call for more accountability and an effort to put the judiciary branch on notice that its actions fall under the same Constitution as the executive branch.

But not all Republicans are on board with calling for the impeachment of federal judges who rule against the administration.

Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.), a centrist Republican, spoke out on social platform X to oppose Trump’s call to impeach federal judges over decisions he doesn’t agree with.

“Our practice over 236 years has been to either respect the courts’ decisions or appeal to a higher court. I believe in the Constitution’s pillars of separation of powers, and checks and balances,” Bacon said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), another centrist Republican, this week argued that many of her GOP colleagues are unwilling to speak out against actions by Trump and top adviser Elon Musk because they are scared of the attacks that she and others who have bucked Trump have faced.

But the rarest of pushback came from Roberts, who on Tuesday issued a rebuke against calling for the impeachment of federal judges, who are among the most powerful in the U.S. and whose courtrooms are often the last stop before a case lands before the nation’s highest court.

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said.

When it comes to Biden, Trump has few choice words for his former political rival.

Trump has taken multiple aims at Biden since taking office, including revoking the former president’s security clearances.

An official in Trump’s first term said the president doubling down on revenge repeats the same patterns, which involve choosing to disregard good advice and focusing instead on his personal issues.

“Trump seems to know every single thing about money and capital markets, except for the one D.C. currency — political capital,” the former official said. “He spends like a drunken sailor on things that don’t matter. If you play the game to win for the team, you wouldn’t waste any of this capital and precious independent support on these petty grievances.”

While the Trump team has reacted to the courts by appealing and bashing federal judges, Congress has allowed the president to move on his agenda without public pushback.

“The view of the president and his political team is that power is meant to be used, until and unless it is blocked by a higher authority such as a court or Congress. Up to now, they have largely abided by judicial rulings they don’t like while appealing and criticizing the opinions,” said a former President George W. Bush administration official, who is now on K Street.

The source added, “But Congress has completely rolled over in the face of any presidential demands and provided the votes for anything he has asked for.”

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