Transcript: Trump Press Sec’s Tirade over New Legal Losses Is Ominous
Litman: Yeah. One of the cases you mentioned where the Trump administration was told No by a federal court is where they announced we’re basically no longer going to pay out all of the research expenses under the National Institutes for Health that had gone to major research universities to fund jobs. These were not just money that were paying for research at universities, but they were also significant job programs that funded support roles, administrative roles for the communities in these areas. So a judge said, No, you can’t actually refuse to pay out the money that Congress had basically told you to at the rights that had been established by law. And there had been some uncertainty since that ruling about whether the National Institutes for Health was, in fact, paying out the funds and complying with the court order. There was some conflicting reporting—some suggesting some grant recipients were not receiving money, even though they should be.
But on Wednesday afternoon, the people at the Trump NIH released a memo saying, The funding impoundment, refusing to pay out these funds, was illegal. We are going to pay them out. Grantees are going to receive the federal money. That seems to be just a complete acquiescence with the court’s ruling in saying, We are not going to hold up these funds. We are going to disperse them as Congress has said we have to and as a court said Congress told us we have to. So that’s a sign that they’re not going to put up a fight, at least against some of these cases where it’s both wildly illegal, hugely destabilizing, and they’re receiving pushback from different quarters. Over the last few days, you had some Republican senators raising concerns, again, because these grants fund jobs in their states too. So that’s part of what was happening here.
Sargent: Speaking of Republican lawmakers, The Hill reports that a number of them are now calling on the Trump administration to respect court rulings. Senate Majority Leader John Thune grudgingly said he hopes Trump will listen to the courts. Senator Lisa Murkowski said the White House should comply with court rulings. I have to say, I’m glad to hear this from Senate Republicans, but if Trump does start to defy court rulings, should we have any confidence at all that Republicans will step up at that point?
