Sen. Angus King said Thursday President Trump’s rhetoric in his tweets undermines the U.S. justice system.
“He just comes out with what’s on top of his head,” Mr. King, Maine independent, said on CNN.
Mr. King, who typically caucuses with the Democrats, said Mr. Trump’s tweets Wednesday about the New York City truck attack suspect bothered him. He said it was a clear example of Mr. Trump’s disregard for the criminal justice system.
“The idea of our criminal justice system being a joke and a laughing stock, you know, that’s the FBI. It’s our U.S. attorneys, its our judges [and] juries. That was just corrosive of understanding and support for the system, which is what we’re supposed to be fighting for,” he said.
Mr. Trump tweeted and made public comments about the man suspected of killing eight people and injuring 11 more after driving a rental truck down a bike path in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday. The attacker, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, was charged with federal terrorism related crimes, and Mr. Trump has actively pushed for the death penalty.
The president also tweeted Thursday that he “would love” to send Saipov to Guantanamo Bay, where many terrorists have been held since 2002, but said the process to send him would take too long.
Would love to send the NYC terrorist to Guantanamo but statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2017
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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