Jarrett says Trump admin will prevail against 'nonsense' legal challenges to Elon Musk, DOGE team's authority

GREGG JARRETT: Presidents have broad authority under Article II of the Constitution to govern and control agencies in departments in the executive branch. How much money is spent hiring, firing, auditing for fraud, waste and abuse. So Trump is exercising a core responsibility, serving the public's interest. That's his solemn duty. The legal question becomes, can he delegate that power to Musk and DOGE? Democrats who have sued say, you can't do that. He wasn't Senate-confirmed under the Appointments clause. That's nonsense. There's a large body of law that says the president absolutely can, on his own without the Senate, confer administrative powers to others like DOGE. So, these early setbacks in various lower courts. That was expected. Trump knew that, you know, liberals would go running and crying to favorable judges. Oh gee whiz, he's stopping our fraud and waste. We want that to continue. Ultimately, I think the Supreme Court will weigh in, and that's where Trump will prevail. The law is on his side. 

The law's on their side. Plus, when you're serving the public interest and the public is in favor of it. That's something that I think the Supreme Court recognizes. Steve mentioned it, CBS poll found 70% agree that the president is doing what he promised. A majority approve of it as a key part of his mandate. Democrats here are picking the wrong battle. What person in their right mind wants to continue billions of taxpayer dollars squandered on waste and fraud, but they are so reflexively against anything that Trump does. Their lawsuits make them look like they favor financial abuse. What DOGE and Musk must have uncovered so far is really shocking Americans. 20% of government spending is wasted. Billions in misplaced funds. Americans, I think, are fed up with this and Trump is moving in their direction as the Supreme Court, I think, is not oblivious to that. 

At issue in the case are DOGE's actions within seven federal agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Education, Department of Labor, The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce.

Attorneys general from 14 states argue Musk and Trump's administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach, but Chutkan says she wasn't convinced so far.

Separately, on Friday, a federal judge extended a temporary order blocking DOGE from accessing payment systems within the Treasury Department.

That extension came after 19 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit claiming DOGE illegally accessed the Treasury Department's central payment system at the Trump administration's behest.