President Trump delivered a crushing blow to an ABC News journalist trying to corner him.
The mainstream media is furious at the humiliation.
But Donald Trump shut down ABC’s Terry Moran with this brutal response.
Trump refuses to bring MS-13 gang member back to America
President Donald Trump refused to bow to media pressure during a contentious interview with ABC News on Tuesday.
When pressed by ABC’s Terry Moran about returning an alleged MS-13 gang member to the United States, Trump delivered a decisive response that left the reporter scrambling.
“Just so you understand, the person that you’re talking about, you know, you’re making this person sound — this is a MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him, OK?” Trump stated firmly. “This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.”
The case involves Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador and is now housed in that country’s maximum-security prison for gang members. Democrats and media figures have rallied to his defense after a Supreme Court ruling that the administration must “facilitate” his return.
Democrats rush to defend alleged gang member
While liberal politicians have portrayed Abrego Garcia as a victim of an overzealous immigration system, the Department of Justice released damning evidence on April 16.
Those documents detailed Abrego Garcia’s alleged ties to MS-13, one of the most violent transnational gangs operating in the United States.
Additional reports revealed he had been pulled over while driving a vehicle registered to a convicted human smuggler, along with a history of domestic violence allegations.
Despite these troubling connections, ABC’s Moran hectored the president about returning the alleged gang member to American soil.
“You could get him back. There’s a phone on this desk. You could pick it up, and with all the power of the presidency, you could call up the President of El Salvador and say ‘Send him back. Right now,'” Moran said, pointing to the phone in the Oval Office.
Trump wasn’t having it.
“And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that. But he’s not,” Trump responded, refusing to prioritize an alleged criminal over the safety of American citizens.
El Salvador’s president already rejected criminal’s return
What the ABC reporter failed to mention was that El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele had already addressed this issue directly.
During an April 14 meeting with Trump, Bukele made it crystal clear he would not return Abrego Garcia to the United States. The Salvadoran leader stated he lacks the authority to “smuggle” a foreign terrorist into his country.
Bukele has earned international recognition for his tough approach to gang violence, creating a specialized mega-prison for gang members that has dramatically reduced crime in El Salvador.
Trump defends his mandate to secure the border
When Moran tried to lecture Trump about presidential powers, saying, “You’re the president. But the buck stops in this office,” Trump reminded him of the mandate American voters gave him.
“Listen, I was elected to take care of a problem that was an unforced error that was made by a very incompetent man, a man that turned out to be incompetent, that you always said was wonderful, great genius, right?” Trump fired back.
He continued, “Now you find out, all of the media are now they’re saying what a mistake they made. A man who was grossly incompetent allowed us to have open borders where millions of people flowed in. I campaigned on that issue.”
The Trump administration has made significant strides in addressing the border crisis inherited from the previous administration. Within days of taking office, Trump ended “catch-and-release,” shut down the “CBP One” app that had paroled over a million illegal immigrants, and restarted construction of the border wall.
The administration has also taken unprecedented steps against violent transnational gangs, designating groups like MS-13 as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Trump prioritizes American safety over media approval
The showdown with ABC News highlights the stark contrast between the media’s approach to immigration and President Trump’s commitment to prioritizing American safety.
While the Biden administration had acknowledged in court filings that Abrego Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error,” they also recognized his alleged gang ties and argued he should remain in El Salvador.
Trump’s refusal to prioritize a potential criminal’s return over the safety of American communities demonstrates exactly why voters returned him to the White House with a mandate to secure the border and remove dangerous individuals from the country.
