Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) says the Trump administration’s threat to suspend basic constitutional rights isn’t about national security — it’s a political ploy to cover up a failing economy.
In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Klobuchar tore into Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s recent claim that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus — the right that protects Americans from being detained without cause.
“He has to follow the Constitution. And in that Constitution there is the right of habeas corpus,” Klobuchar said. “Even conservative commentators have said Congress would have to change that — and that’s not going to happen.”
But Klobuchar said the Constitution wasn’t the real reason Miller made those remarks.
“To me, you know what? That isn’t really the issue,” she said. “Stephen Miller brings that up on a Friday, just to throw it out there… so you ask me about it on a Sunday show.”
Klobuchar accused the Trump administration of creating chaos to distract from the real crisis hitting Americans: economic instability, failing small businesses, and the breakdown of critical services.
“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,” she said.
She pointed to growing fears among Americans who are struggling to get the help they need.
“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,” Klobuchar said.
She says the pattern is clear: stir up fear to drown out reality.
“They keep throwing out these things, just so we all talk about them for four days,” she said. “And I am, frankly, tired of it.”
Klobuchar closed the door on any serious threat to habeas corpus, calling it nothing more than a distraction tactic.
“No, they’re not going to reverse habeas corpus in the Congress. That’s not going to happen,” she said.
