‘A Major Step Forward To Authoritarianism’: Bernie Sanders Calls Out Trump’s ‘Attack’ On Law Firms

3 days ago

During a CNN town hall on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about President Trump’s executive orders targeting major law firms.

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00:00He is now investigating PBS and NPR.

00:07He has called this station illegal, correct?

00:11I'm not sure about the illegal part, but I...

00:14This and MSNBC, illegal.

00:15You're now, by the way, in Trump's world, you are in an illegal network.

00:23What is all of that about?

00:25Now, getting back to the issue of law firms.

00:28In America, what we have is a system of justice which says that you are entitled,

00:39basically entitled, constitutionally entitled, to a legal defense.

00:43The idea that the president of the United States would threaten and harass attorneys and law firms

00:53that defended people he did not like is a major step forward toward authoritarianism.

01:01And by the way, some of these big law firms, was it Paul Weiss is one of them?

01:07One of the biggest.

01:08Caved in.

01:09We look to these law firms who have hundreds of well-paid lawyers to defend the Constitution,

01:15to defend the rule of law.

01:17And these guys, big law firms, who often, by the way, defended Democrats,

01:22they were more interested in getting millions of dollars from their lobbying or whatever the hell they do

01:28in Washington, D.C., making huge amounts of money than standing tall and defending the Constitution.

01:33They should be ashamed of themselves.

01:35And when Trump is out of office and others gain power, I hope we do not forget the cowardice,

01:42not only of these law firms, but by the way, you've got major universities like Harvard and Columbia.

01:48These are some of the great universities in the world.

01:52And yet, out of fear of losing their grants, and I understand that, they've got a lot of money there,

01:58they are willing to change their curriculum to bow down before Trump.

02:03You add all of that together, the attack on law firms, you have Trump for the first time in history saying to a judge,

02:16oh, you ruled against me, I don't like the decision you rendered, we're going to impeach you.

02:22That's not America.

02:24What our Constitution is about is a separation of power, executive, judiciary, legislative,

02:30and independent judiciary.

02:32You don't threaten and intimidate judges because they rule against you.

02:37That is a movement toward authoritarianism.

02:40And I would hope very much that not only Democrats and independents,

02:44but my Republican colleagues, we could disagree on all the issues,

02:48but for God's sake, let us not become an authoritarian country where one guy,

02:53one guy assumes all of the power.

02:55That is not what people fought and died to create in this country.

02:59If somebody gets...

02:59I'm so sorry.

03:12I agree.

03:13Be well.

03:13You can do it.

03:15Oh.

03:17Yes.

03:17What are you doing?

03:18You're doing it.

03:20Right.

03:21Yes.

03:22Video

03:24From that,

03:25here

‘A Major Step Forward To Authoritarianism’: Bernie Sanders Calls Out Trump’s ‘Attack’ On Law Firms

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