Lutnick: Trump Judge on Trade Court Was Dem Judge, ‘He Just Approved Their Seat’
On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reacted to the U.S. Court for International Trade ruling on presidential tariff authority as it pertains to some of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and stated that Judge Timothy Reif, who Trump nominated during his first term, “is just one of these blue slip judges, meaning it was a Democrat judge. It was their seat, and he just approved their seat, which is the deal for those kind of things.”
Host Laura Ingraham asked, “Was he surprised about this three-judge panel, because it was a Reagan judge, it was a Trump judge, and then it was an Obama judge, and it was a unanimous ruling on this court. Is he surprised by that?”
Lutnick answered, “Well, I think he was not happy with the panel, because what you call the Trump judge is just one of these blue slip judges, meaning it was a Democrat judge. It was their seat, and he just approved their seat, which is the deal for those kind of things. And while we love Ronald Reagan, on trade, he just was not a strong trade guy.”
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