Screenshot: CNN

The fake news media got another brutal reality check, courtesy of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who utterly annihilated CNN’s Kasie Hunt in a heated legal debate.

The so-called journalist, who fancies herself an expert on constitutional law, was left stammering and gasping for air as Miller methodically dismantled her weak, leftist talking points about the President’s constitutional authority over national security.

Hunt, like many in the fake news media, tried to push a ridiculous narrative that a single district court judge has the power to override the Commander-in-Chief’s authority to protect America from foreign threats.

But Miller, armed with actual knowledge of the law, obliterated her argument by citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which explicitly empowers the President to repel foreign threats without interference from activist judges. Miller told Hunt to read the law herself.

Kasie Hunt:
You called the judge’s order just earlier today “patently unlawful” and said that it was an assault on democracy itself. Does that mean that the administration is ignoring this order, and might you ignore future court orders that meet the criteria you laid out?

Stephen Miller:
The President of the United States and his administration reserve all rights under the Constitution to conduct national security operations in defense of the United States.

The Alien Enemies Act, which was passed into law by the founding generation of this country—men like John Adams—was written explicitly to give the President the authority to repel an alien invasion of the United States.

That is not something that a district court judge has any authority whatsoever to interfere with, to enjoin, to restrict, or to restrain in any way. You can read the law yourself. There’s not one clause in that law that makes it subject to judicial review, let alone district court review.

Kasie Hunt:
So, Stephen, when you say that this person has no authority at all, this is how our system works. It starts with these judges and then continues up.

At what point does it become, in your view, legal for the justice system to be looking at this and making a judgment? I fail to see how there’s any other way but to start with where we’re starting here before you get to, eventually, the Supreme Court.

Stephen Miller:
Well, so first of all, there’s a term in law: justiciable. This is not justiciable. In other words, this is not subject to judicial remedy. When the President is exercising his Article 2 powers to defend the country against an invasion or to repel a foreign terrorist that is unlawfully in the country, he’s exercising his core Article 2 powers as Commander-in-Chief.

Boom. A history lesson for the uninformed leftist media. Miller made it clear: a district court judge does not get to override the President’s Commander-in-Chief powers—period.

But instead of absorbing this fundamental truth, Hunt tried to twist the narrative, asking if Venezuela was actually “invading” the U.S.

Miller, unfazed, quickly shut it down and hit Hunt with a gotcha question, leaving her caught off guard and refused to answer.

Kasie Hunt:
Is Venezuela invading the US?

Stephen Miller:
This is a very important point. This is a Title 50 authority. It’s a Commander-in-Chief authority. Just to ask you a simple question—you talk about how the system works—does a district court judge have the right to direct or enjoin troop movements overseas? Yes or no?

Kasie Hunt:
Well, Stephen, my question—if you could answer my question first, please. Is Venezuela invading our country in a way that would apply this way?

Stephen Miller:
So I’ll answer yours, and you’ll answer mine. Under the terms of the statute, Tren de Aragua is an alien enemy force that has come here, as detailed at length in the proclamation, at the direction of the Venezuelan government. The statute says that a President has the ability to repel an invasion or predatory incursion that is directed by a foreign government.

Kasie Hunt:
By a state or a government, right? Are they a state or a government?

Stephen Miller:
Yes, it is documented that Tren de Aragua was sent by the Venezuelan government in the proclamation. Here’s an even more important point. Under the Constitution, who makes that determination—a district court judge elected by no one, or the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy? The President, and the President alone, makes a decision of what triggers that determination in the statute.

But Hunt wouldn’t quit—because that’s what fake news does. She kept pushing, asking if the administration thinks it’s “at war” with Venezuela or if it’s “above the federal courts.”

Kasie Hunt:
Do you then think we are actually at war with Venezuela, the nation-state of Venezuela?

Stephen Miller:
You’re not hearing me, and you’re not understanding me. Read the statute: Alien Enemies Act, 1798. It says if a predatory incursion is perpetrated by a foreign government, it lists the three qualifying actions. It could be an active war.

Kasie Hunt:
It does say in the very beginning, there has to be a declared war against a nation or a state.

Stephen Miller:
No. That’s not what it says. No. Wrong. Look at the statute. It’s on my account on social media.

The debate got heated when Hunt tried to lecture Miller on the separation of power, but it backfired spectacularly.

Kasie Hunt:
Do you think the Supreme Court has any say over this or not? Does the Supreme Court of the United States have any say over the things that you were just outlining right here?

Stephen Miller:
I believe what the Supreme Court will say is what I just said, which is that the President’s conduct here is not subject to judicial review.

Kasie Hunt:
You are acknowledging that they do, in fact, have a say here, even though you think they may agree with you.

Stephen Miller:
What we are expecting is the Supreme Court to say what has always been the case, which is that when the President is using his powers as commander-in-chief, those determinations are not subject to judicial review. In other words, the President’s designation of Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization and as an alien enemy is part of his inherent plenary authority. There is no way—

Kasie Hunt:
At what point in the system—

Stephen Miller:
Hold on.

Stephen Miller:
How are you going to expel illegal alien invaders from our country—who are raping little girls, who are murdering little girls—if each and every deportation has to be adjudicated in a district court? That means you have no country. It means you have no sovereignty. It means you have no future. It is fundamentally incompatible to have a country and have individual expulsions adjudicated by a single district court judge.

Kasie Hunt:
I’m just trying to figure out at what point in the system—what does the Trump administration believe? Because we do have separation of powers in this country. I hear what you’re saying.

Stephen Miller:
Yes, separation of powers. This is the judiciary interfering in the executive function. That is the separation of powers.

Kasie Hunt:
Let me finish my question, Stephen. Did you ignore the judge’s order here because you thought you could?

Stephen Miller:
The judge’s order and the actions taken by the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security are not in conflict. The Department of Defense has been clear that they are not in conflict. But I’m making a more fundamental point.

Kasie Hunt:
You think that you did go along with the order that the judge put out? You do not think that the Trump administration defied this order?

Stephen Miller:
As the Justice Department said, there is no conflict between the judge’s order and the actions taken by the departments I just listed. But I’m making a deeper and more fundamental point.

Miller then turned the tables, calling out the blatant hypocrisy of activist judges who have zero problem letting Biden flood the nation with illegal aliens, but suddenly act like constitutional purists when Trump exercises his rightful powers.

Hunt’s final pathetic attempt to trap Miller—suggesting that the Trump administration was above the law—was quickly met with another devastating fact check.

Miller pointed out that district judges do not have the constitutional authority to interfere with military decisions or foreign policy.

Kasie Hunt:
Is the White House above the federal courts? Is that what you’re saying?

Stephen Miller:
What I’m saying is that what you said—there’s a separation of powers. The judiciary exercises judgment and relief.

Kasie Hunt:
I don’t speak for the White House… You’re here to speak for the White House. I just want you to answer that one simple question.

Stephen Miller:
I am. Ready? Here we go. Under a proper reading of the Constitution, district court judges provide relief to individual plaintiffs seeking relief. District court judges do not have the authority, as a general matter, to enjoin the functioning of the executive branch, but their authority is at its lowest point when the President is exercising his powers as Commander-in-Chief. I asked you a question; you never answered it. Can a judge enjoin troop movements overseas? Can a district court judge enjoin troop movements overseas? Yes or no?

Kasie Hunt:
Stephen, I am not going to get into the—

Stephen Miller:
Just say no, and then you’ll know that I’m right.

WATCH:

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