Not only does President Obama find the comparisons to being an emperor flattering, his White House also believes he is “well within [his] authority” to take executive action on immigration Thursday.
White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri defended President Obama’s planned executive amnesty by saying it “doesn’t” shred the Constitution Thursday morning on MSNBC.
“What’s your response to the Washington Post editorial that said that the president’s frustration with Congress ‘doesn’t grant the president license to tear up the constitution’?” Host Joe Scarborough asked.
“Well, it doesn’t,” Palmieri said laughing, “and that’s not what he’s doing. And whatever the steps he’s going to take, you’ll see, are well within his authority to do that and we’ll have the legal justification to show that.”
She claims that the White House has “legal justification” for every part of the order, which is expected to allow millions of illegal immigrants who have been in the country for at least 5 years and have familial ties to U.S. citizens and no criminal record to defer deportations and receive a work permit. The president is also expected to make it easier for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children to be eligible for a program that gives them citizenship, and expand the number of visas issues to tech workers and their families.
Palmieri repeated herself later, “But it doesn’t tear up the constitution. And you will see — everyone will see that it doesn’t.”
This is a contrast from earlier in the week when MSNBC could not even find one Democrat to tell them that Obama’s plan was legal.
Watch the clip below:
