Washington (AP)-Donald Trump's Shoot-From-the-Lip style held Americans on the edge of their seats during last year's campaign. But now that he speaks as a president and not as a candidate, his words are used against him in court in the Blizzard of Legislates who challenges his agenda.
The spontaneity complicates the legal functions of his administration. Nowhere has this been clearer than in cases where Elon Musk and the Department of Government efficiency are involved, the driving force in Trump's efforts to reduce and overhaul the federal government.
The last example came earlier this week, when the American district judge Theodore Chuang ruled that Musk had probably violated the Constitution by dismantling the United States Agency for International Development.
The lawsuit called in the question of whether the billionaire entrepreneur had exceeded his authority. Lawyers from the Ministry of Justice and White House officials insist that Musk is only a presidential adviser, not the actual leader of Doge.
But in other words, Trump has said – in speeches, interviews and public comments – and Chuang quoted him extensively in his decision.
Trump in particular about creating doge during his Primetime speech to a joint session of the congress and said it was 'led by Elon Musk'. Republicans gave Musk a standing ovation, which greeted from the gallery above the living room.
“The words of Trump were essential, central and indispensable,” said Standard requirements, one of the lawyers for USAID employees who have filed the lawsuit. “His admission took what a tough thing would have been and made it a simple one.”
The looseness with words is a shift from pastors such as President Barack Obama, who always said he was careful because everything he said could have troops march or mark markets.
Trump does not have such a sense of restraint, and other members of his administration such as Musk not.
Chuang, who is located in Maryland and was appointed by Obama, also mentioned Social Media reports of Musk, which often writes on X, the platform that he owns.
For example, Musk posted: “We spent the weekend feeding USAID on the Woodchipper” on 3 February.
“Musk's public statements and messages … suggest that he has the ability to act do,” Chuang wrote in his statement.
Harrison Fields, Press Secretary's Press Secretary Main Department, said that Trump fulfilled his campaign blade “to make the federal government more efficient and more responsible for taxpayers.”
“Rogue deskcrates and activist judges who try to undermine this effort will only undermine the will of the American people and their obstructionist efforts,” he said.
Anthony Coley, who led public affairs at the Ministry of Justice during the government of President Joe Biden, said that statements regarding civil lawsuits were always coordinated between his office and the West Wing.
“The words can be used to support what we do or undermine what we do,” he said. “It is a carefully choreographed effort to ensure that there was no daylight between what was said in the court of public opinion and what could ultimately take place in court.”
Compared to how things were done in the past, Coley said, Trump has a 'ready-made approach to matters'.
Trump usually leaves legal disputes not forcing him to reject the volume. During a criminal investigation into his decision to keep classified data in Mar-A-Lago after leaving the White House after his first term, Trump spoke extensively about the case in an interview with Fox News.
For a long time, the defense lawyers were shocked – the defendants are usually encouraged to keep mum while they are confronted with an indictment. But the situation has been performed for Trump. His legal team delayed the case and the office of the special counsel, the charges fell after he won the elections because presidents cannot be prosecuted while they are in office.
Doge has been the focus of almost two dozen lawsuits. Up to now, it is often predominant in cases with access to government data, where different claimants have had difficulty convincing judges to block the actions of the organization.
But it is also accepted challenges, such as a lawsuit about whether Doge should meet public register requests. The Trump government claimed in court that Doge is part of the White House, which means it is exempt.
Judge Christopher Cooper, also appointed by Obama, did not agree, opted for a government watchdog called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or Crew.
“Musk and the public statements of the president indicate that USDS” – the original acronym for the organization that was renamed doge – “in fact carries out a substantial independent authority,” wrote Cooper, which is located in Washington.
Cooper concluded that Dog “federal employees, federal programs and federal contracts can identify and terminate. Doing one of those three things seems to require a substantial independent authority to certainly do all three.”
He ordered Doge to respond to requests about the role of the team in massive dismissal and disruptions of federal programs. The administration has asked the judge in vain to reconsider and said that the judge has accused the structure of the agency 'fundamentally incorrectly'.
Only because Musk Online claims for in -depth cuts in the field of agencies, does not necessarily translate into Doge that has authority in the eyes of the law, Stanford Law School professor Michael McConnell argued in a recent debate on the issue.
Doge recommends changes, he said, but it is the heads of the desk that they actually take into effect.
“And that is all that the courts will give about what the Supreme Court will do,” said McConnell organized by the National Constitution Center during the debate.
