Klobuchar dismisses Trump's habeas corpus threat as distraction from 'what's really in front of them'

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Sunday dismissed the Trump administration’s threat to suspend habeas corpus as an effort to distract the media and the public away from “what’s really in front of them.”

In an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked Klobuchar about remarks Friday from Stephen Miller — White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser — saying President Trump and his team are “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown.

Klobuchar dismissed the threat, saying Trump has to follow the Constitution, “And in that Constitution there is the right of habeas corpus.”

She also noted that “even conservative commentators” have said that only Congress can reverse that basic constitutional principle, which she said is “not going to happen.”

“But to me, you know what? That isn't really the issue. The issue is that Stephen Miller brings that up on a Friday, just to throw it out there,” she said, pointing to an earlier interview with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who said the issue is not something on which Congress is focused.

“Why is he doing that?” Klobuchar said about Miller. “So you ask me about it on a Sunday show.”

Klobuchar said she suspects the Trump administration does not want to talk about the negative economic trends that have emerged since Trump took office or about threats to Medicaid and Social Security.

“I'm telling you, right now, he's doing it because they don't want to focus on what's really in front of them, and that they have created havoc in our economy,” Klobuchar said.

“An economy that was improving, and now we have people out there scared to death that they're not going to be able to get their Social Security because people aren't working there to answer their calls. They're not going to be able to get their Medicaid or be able to have their mom in assisted living. And yeah, their small businesses are folding,” she continued.

“That's what's happening right now, and they don't want to deal with it so they keep throwing out these things, just so we all talk about them for four days. And I am, frankly, tired of it. Because no, they're not going to reverse habeas corpus in the Congress. That's not going to happen,” she added.