President Donald Trump told Breitbart News the Supreme Court’s landmark decision granting him power to fire independent agency employees at will “more than made up” for the court’s disappointing birthright citizenship ruling.
In an exclusive Oval Office interview Tuesday evening, Trump celebrated the 6-3 victory in Trump v. Slaughter as restoration of presidential authority stripped away nearly a century ago.
“It was a disappointing decision, but I think it was, from my personal standpoint, more than made up for by the Slaughter decision, because that was one that was going on for almost 100 years where they took power away from FDR and presidents have tried to regain that power for many, many years.”
The interview came hours after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship 5-4 in Trump v. Barbara. Trump has long argued birthright citizenship is unconstitutional and even attended oral arguments in April.
The Slaughter case arose after Trump fired former Federal Trade Commission commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter without cause. Slaughter sued, arguing the FTC Act allowed removal only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
The Supreme Court sided with Trump. Presidents can now fire FTC commissioners and other independent agency heads without giving a reason.
Trump noted the decision reversed a restriction dating to the FDR era.
“If you remember, Taft had the power, and they took it away during FDR, and it’s been almost 100 years, close to 100 years, and everybody’s been trying to regain that power because it was the right thing,” Trump said.
The president called Slaughter the biggest story of the Supreme Court term — bigger than birthright.
“I’m disappointed about birthright. I think it’s ridiculous. We’re the only country that does it. It’s very expensive, and a lot of bad things can happen,” he said.
Trump revealed the court clarified birthright citizenship can be ended through Congress — not a constitutional amendment as previously believed.
“So I think we’re going to try to get it through Congress. Before we do that, however, it would be nice to get the SAVE America Act passed.”
The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, mandate voter ID, and end universal mail-in ballots.
When asked about terminating the filibuster to pass birthright reform or SAVE America, Trump was blunt.
“You could do everything if you got rid of the filibuster. You could do SAVE America, you could do every single thing you dreamt of, you could do Kate’s Law, you could do things that people even haven’t thought about,” he said.
Trump named the Republican senators blocking filibuster reform: Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Susan Collins.
“If you want to have a Republican Party that doesn’t lose an election for 100 years, you terminate the filibuster, and you approve SAVE America, and then you approve another 40 things you never even thought possible,” Trump said. “And that we have senators who are opposed to that is absolutely insane, and remember the Democrats will do it in the first hour.”
On Wednesday, Trump escalated his pressure on Senate Republicans, calling on them to fire the Senate parliamentarian.
“How the Republican Senate is not firing the Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Radical Left Senator Harry Reid, and Barack Hussein Obama, is beyond me!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “She has been ruling unfairly against Republicans for years, and Majority Leader John Thune has the right to do it, immediately. FIRE THE PARLIAMENTARIAN NOW!”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has the authority to remove the parliamentarian immediately.
