'Stop playing this game': Michael Steele unleashes on 'stupid' Trump White House press sec

On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave the official response from President Donald Trump's administration to a court decision halting the vast bulk of his tariffs from going into effect, which questioned the legitimacy of federal judges to weigh in on his policies.

"Three judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade disagreed and brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump to stop him from carrying out the mandate that the American people gave him," Leavitt said during her Thursday briefing. "The courts should have no role here. There is a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision making process. These judges are threatening to undermine the credibility of the United States on the world stage."

After hearing her remarks, MSNBC host and former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele erupted on Leavitt's "stupid" response to the court decision and urged his colleagues in the media to not "gloss over" her comments.

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"This goes to the heart of the problem we have right now in the country. That rhetoric is baloney, and she knows it," Steele said. "But she's performing for the guy behind the Resolute Desk who wants to hear this. He needs that justification for the action he's taken. And when he gets pushback, his response is, 'oh, you're the bad actor. You're the one who's undermining this system.' He's the one who's undermining the system!"

"And I think we need to be clear about that and stop playing this game and taking the crap that comes out of this administration behind that podium every day, undermining our judicial system," Steele continued. "It is the last front we have against what they're doing. And I think we just need to be clear about that and not sit back, as we do in Washington, and pitty-pat around the crazy, because she's got the White House podium in front of her and the logo behind her. That doesn't justify anything that we see happening right now."

While both the Court of International Trade and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Trump's use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977 to impose tariffs to be unconstitutional, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the tariffs on Thursday. The circuit didn't issue an opinion on the tariffs, but only ruled that they could remain in place while litigation played out.

Watch the full segment below, or by clicking this link.

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