“Why won’t you do your job, Senator?”
It was standing room-only in a small city hall building in Fort Madison, Iowa, where constituents overflowed out onto the sidewalk for a chance to talk with Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, pressing him on their concerns with the Trump administration’s deportation operation, the administration’s tariff policy, and government overreach.
Many in the audience expressed concerns over the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with court orders to facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison in El Salvador, arguing Grassley and Congress haven’t adequately provided checks and balances on the Trump administration, allowing him to defy court orders.
“You going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?” an audience member shouted.
“That’s not a power of Congress,” Grassley responded.
“El Salvador is an independent country … The president of that country is not subject to our U.S. Supreme Court,” he added later.
You could hear a loud groan from a woman before a man yelled, “I’m pissed!”
Grassley is among a handful of Republican members of Congress to hold town halls during its spring recess. GOP leadership has advised their members to avoid in-person town halls after several members were grilled in their home districts earlier this year.
At Grassley’s town haAnother audience member asked, “We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about these people who have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country with no due process?”
Before Grassley could answer, other members of the audience shouted about the lack of due process.
“Trump’s not obeying the Supreme Court. He just ignores them!”
“You’re allowing it to happen!”
During a gaggle with reporters after the town hall wrapped, Grassley again attempted to argue that the administration isn’t “responsible” for bringing Garcia back to the U.S. if El Salvador refuses to comply.
One reporter asked, “Do you have concerns that Donald Trump is inching toward a constitutional crisis, or has already reached one when he chooses not to follow the court orders to make plans for his return?”
“Well, it’s not a question of the president following the court order. It’s a question of is the president of El Salvador going to do what our Supreme Court wants done? And obviously our Supreme Court doesn’t have any control over him, and he says he’s not going to return him,” Grassley said. “So if there’s a constitutional crisis, it’s not being caused by President Trump, it’s being caused by the president of El Salvador.”
“I would expect our president to act in good faith, and I think our president will do that, of making those requests of the president of El Salvador, but whether or not, but how the president of El Salvador responds would be up to that president of El Salvador,” he added.
During the town hall, members made it known to Grassley that they believed there was more he could be doing to address their concerns about Trump and his actions since taking office.
“Are you proud of voting for Trump, what he’s doing in office. Are you proud of everything he’s doing right here,” one asked.
“There’s no president I agree with 100 percent,” Grassley replied.
“I didn’t say that — I said are you proud he’s in,” the constituent replied. Grassley moved to another part of the room to answer a different question.
Grassley also attempted to quell concerns from constituents about the impact farmers in the state could experience from Trump’s tariff policies.
“My son has cattle, yes, and he works at a regular job,” a woman told Grassley. “And so I just wonder how the tariffs will affect someone like him?”
“It’s too early to make a judgment if what I’m going to say will happen,” Grassley replied, saying there could be benefits and drawbacks.
“It could also be negative, from the standpoint that if people don’t negotiate because there’s a lot more countries than the 100 that have so far come to the table … When you put something negative like a tariff on some country, they seem to retaliate against agricultural issues.”
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