State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce dodged questions on Monday about where Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands on due process rights.
CNN’s Kasie Hunt — while referring to the hundreds of immigrants, including Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who were deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process — asked if Rubio believes noncitizens are “entitled” to due process rights as laid out in the Constitution.
“Well, there’s — there’s always, of course, due process,” replied Bruce, who was a Fox News contributor before joining President Donald Trump’s administration. “These are individuals who have either violated our laws or their visas have been removed and they have to be removed from the country.”
Hunt interjected to note that Trump “seemed to question” whether he backs people being entitled to due process rights over the weekend.
She then asked whether Rubio has spoken to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele about Abrego Garcia, whose return to the United States has yet to occur as the Trump administration continues to defy a Supreme Court order to facilitate such a move.
Bruce repeatedly declined to answer Hunt’s questions about her boss, claiming she wasn’t going to speak on the “nature” of the secretary’s daily work or which world leaders he speaks to.
“But you’re the spokeswoman for the State Department! I mean, with all due respect, like —,” Hunt stressed.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that — just, just a minute. That doesn’t mean I’m the gossiper for the State Department,” Bruce replied.
Bruce later claimed she was telling the host the “nature” of what she can speak about which — she argued — “does not include the day-to-day operations or choices the secretary of state makes.”
“That’s not going to happen,” she said.
“We clearly know this [case] is in the forefront for the State Department and the forefront for the secretary of state,” she added. “But you’re not going to get the nature of the details of negotiations, diplomacy or the decisions the secretary makes during his day.”
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