Donald Trump said he believes the way judges and justices are treated by “the radical far left” is illegal and should be punishable by “serious fines and beyond that.”
At a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, the Republican presidential nominee was discussing the criticism many of his Supreme Court appointees have faced recently .
Multiple justices have been embroiled in controversies, including Samuel Alito, whose household flew flags associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement, and Clarence Thomas who did not disclose numerous luxurious gifts and trips funded by a wealthy Republican donor.
Several of them have faced calls to recuse themselves from certain cases and even to be impeached.
Trump was speaking about these types of reactions when he said: “I believe they are playing the ref, they are constantly criticizing some of our greatest judges and justices.”
He said later: “I really think it’s illegal what they do with the judges and justices.”
“Remember the term, playing the ref with our judges and our justices should be punishable by very serious crimes and beyond that,” Trump added toward the end of his speech.
Trump on people who criticize the Supreme Court: Playing the ref with our judges and justices should be punishable by serious fines and beyond that. pic.twitter.com/bnQTHv6WIY
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 17, 2024
He explained that the term “playing the ref” was a reference to Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight.
Trump said: “You know the great Bobby Knight—he supported me—he used to fight the refs all the time, scream at them. Bobby, Bobby please don’t do that, it’s not going to work.
“And he said: ‘You’re right, it’s not going to work, it’s going to work for the next one.’
“And the next call, there would be a flagrant foul and they wouldn’t call it, they didn’t want to get screamed at.
“The radical left harasses our judges and harasses our justices. They scream at them, they call them names, they say ‘they’re incompetent, they’re horrible, they should be impeached’—they’re constantly saying they should be impeached.”
Donald Trump listens at a business roundtable discussion at a campaign event in York, Pennsylvania. He has accused the far left of breaking the law when they criticize Supreme Court judges.
AP
At a different point in Trump’s speech, he said the “New York court system is totally corrupt,” while referring to how, on May 30, he was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
The former president, who denies the charges against him, has long insisted that the case against him was not legitimate and was part of a plan to upheave the upcoming election.
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s team via email for any further comment on the statements he made about criticizing judges being illegal.
