If it’s Sunday, it’s time for Kristen Welker to press another Democrat guest into stating that the country is in a constitutional crisis…on Meet the Press. This week’s guest, Minnesota U.S. Senator and former 2020 presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar.
Watch the exchange:
If it’s Sunday, it’s time for @MeetThePress host @kwelkernbc to press another guest about the “constitutional crisis.” To @amyklobuchar: “Some of your colleagues, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for example, says the United States is in a constitutional crisis right now.… pic.twitter.com/fjK6eeR6zw
— Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) May 11, 2025
KRISTEN WELKER: Well, Senator, you talk about the Constitution. Some of your colleagues, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for example, says the United States is in a constitutional crisis right now. You have stopped short of saying that in recent interviews. Let me ask you now, do you think the United States is in a constitutional crisis?
AMY KLOBUCHAR: I've made very clear that we are heading closer to one. But the reason we're not in a constitutional crisis like we have been at any moment, other moments in our country, like, say, the Civil War, when the states were actually dividing and seceding – we are not in a constitutional crisis because of the courts of this country.
Klobuchar espouses a very interesting theory here, and by interesting I mean hypocritically deranged, wherein the COURTS are what is preventing the country from sliding into a full constitutional crisis. Welker offered no pushback or resistance to the idea that the Republic is saved by district judges issuing national injunctions against the President who is constitutionally mandated to run the Executive branch of the government.
Contrast this kind of talk from just under three years ago, when Roe v. Wade was about to fall. The left and media were caterwauling about the courts, and their undue exertion of power. Chuck Schumer was calling for violence against Supreme court justices, which led to protests outside their homes and the arrest of a wackjob outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
This fake concern is quite different from that of three years ago. And if the Supreme Court should uphold any or all of these Trump actions, especially on immigration, then you can expect the left to enter into a whole different phase of whining about constitutional crises- aided and abetted by legacy media.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, May 11th, 2025:
KRISTEN WELKER: Welcome back. Joining me now is Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Senator Klobuchar, welcome back to Meet the Press.
AMY KLOBUCHAR: Thanks, Kristen, and Happy Mother's Day.
WELKER: Happy Mother's Day to you. Thank you for spending part of your Mother's Day with us, we really appreciate it. I do want to start on the big news of the day. Of course, there are these trade talks underway in Geneva, Switzerland. And – the US, of course, has argued that part of the goal here is to stem the flow of fentanyl. You, in the past, have supported targeted tariffs, and I wonder if in fact, at the end of the day, these tariffs do accomplish stemming the flow of fentanyl and leveling the playing field with China, will you think that the Trump tariffs are a success?
KLOBUCHAR: Obviously, I'd like to see less fentanyl come into our country and that should be on the table for discussion. But the way this has been handled from the very beginning, Kristen – and the American people know it – chaos is up, corruption is up and costs are up. Just ask any mom today, on Mother's Day, when they're out trying to get a stroller. They're up like 25%. This is real. I listen to my colleague from Wyoming, who I respect very much, but I'm thinking, “Let's get real here.” Supply chain problems for small businesses. They've lost 300,000 jobs in small businesses in just the first few months of this president's presidency. Only 37% of Americans think he's handling the economy right, and he has the lowest poll numbers of any president since polling started in the first 100 days. That's because Americans don't want to hear all this talking points. They know what's really happening in their lives, like a woman named Beth Benike, who owns a store called Busy Baby. She sells online, and her business has been decimated despite being entrepreneur of the year in my state because of how they have handled China, how they have been handling countries all over the world. Sure, I'm glad they're talking, but they have assessed 10% to 25% tariffs on our allies, the very people that we would need, our friends and allies, in order to deal with China. So to me, they've been approaching this all upside-down. Targeted tariffs, yes, but they should be working within trade agreements like the Canada, Mexico trade agreement with the U.S. to strengthen that instead of these across the board tariff taxes on all Americans and now a baby tax.
WELKER: Senator, let me ask you about another part of my conversation, as you say, with your colleague, John Barrasso. I asked him about Stephen Miller coming out saying the administration is looking into the possibility of suspending habeas corpus. As I noted, the Constitution says that is a right that lies with Congress. What, if anything, will you do if the Trump administration does move forward to try to suspend habeas corpus? Do you believe you have any recourse?
KLOBUCHAR: I listened to the interview – that – the good interview you did with the president last week and I think we start with that. When you ask him, "Do you respect the Constitution? Will you follow the Constitution?" He says, "I don't know. I'll have to ask a lawyer." He takes an oath to preserve and protect and defend the Constitution before the American people. And in that Constitution there is the right of habeas corpus. And as you point out, only the Congress can reverse it. Even conservative commentators have said that. But to me, you know what? That isn't really the issue. The issue is that Stephen Miller brings that up on a Friday, just to throw it out there. You heard the reaction of John Barrasso. This is not what they're talking about in Congress. Why is he doing that? So you ask me about it on a Sunday show. I'm telling you right now, he's doing it because they don't want to focus on what's really in front of them and that they have created havoc in our economy, economy that was improving, and now we have people out there scared to death that they're not going to be able to get their social security because people aren't working there to answer their calls. They're not going to be able to get their Medicaid and – or be able to have their mom in assisted living. And yeah, their small businesses are folding. That's what's happening right now, and they don't want to deal with it so they keep throwing out these things just so we all talk about them for four days. And I am, frankly, tired of it. Because no, they're not going to reverse habeas corpus in the Congress. That's not going to happen.
WELKER: Well, Senator, you talk about the Constitution. Some of your colleagues, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for example, says the United States is in a constitutional crisis right now. You have stopped short of saying that in recent interviews. Let me ask you now, do you think the United States is in a constitutional crisis?
KLOBUCHAR: I've made very clear that we are heading closer to one. But the reason we're not in a constitutional crisis like we have been at any moment, other moments in our country, like, say, the Civil War, when the states were actually dividing and seceding – we are not in a constitutional crisis because of the courts of this country. Over 100 of them, including multiple Trump-appointed judges, have stood up and said, “Hey, this is unconstitutional. You can't steal people's private data in Social Security, Elon Musk. You cannot freeze funds for medical research that a Democratic and Republican Congress have already allocated for life saving cancer trials.” That's what's been going on right now. It is a stress test on our Constitution, that's for sure. And the second thing that I'd like to see happen more, since we have three co-equal branches of government, is that the rubber stamp Republicans in Congress would actually stand up and say, “You know what? These – this tariff tax of $4,000 per family is not good for my constituents.” They could actually take back their power and say no to this president instead of rubber stamping every single thing he does.
WELKER: Senator, let me get your reaction to what we heard from former President Biden who spoke out this week for the first time since leaving office. Here he is talking about his exit from the 2024 race. Take a look.
NICK ROBINSON: Should you have withdrawn earlier, given someone else a bigger chance?
FMR. PRES. JOE BIDEN: I – I don't – I don't think it would have mattered.
WELKER: Senator, would the party have had a better chance of winning in 2024 had President Biden dropped out sooner?
KLOBUCHAR: You know, everything we look at in a rear-view mirror after you lose an election. Yes, we would have been served better by a primary. But we are where we are. We're not on the History Channel right now. And I believe that President Biden can come out and speak and do interviews whenever he wants, but I will say this: we're not on the History Channel. And our Republican colleagues, instead of dealing with where we are now, think they're in some kind of a – of a way back zone, that they can go in some kind of time – go bring time backwards and blame everything on Joe Biden. Donald Trump is the president right now, and we have to deal with helping the American people. My party, we want to focus on lowering costs, on finding new ways to build more housing and get more affordable energy, on really working with our entrepreneurs all over the country to seize on this moment that we have with everything from mapping the human genome to AI to actually expanding more small businesses, not retracting them, like this president is doing.
WELKER: Senator –
KLOBUCHAR: So I'm not interested in going backwards in time. I'm interested in going forward.
WELKER: One more because former President Biden did do a series of interviews this week. He was asked whether he was surprised that Vice President Harris lost. Here’s his response there.
JOE BIDEN: I wasn’t surprised, not because I didn't think the Vice President's a qualified person to be president. She is. She's qualified to be president of the United States of America. But I was surprised – I – I wasn't surprised because they went the route of the sexist – the sexist route of the whole “This is a woman, she's this, she’s that.”
WELKER: Senator, do you worry when you hear that, that the lesson that Democrats will take from the 2024 election is that they shouldn't put a woman at the top of the ticket?
KLOBUCHAR: I hope not. You have seen women run other countries quite well. Angela Merkel comes to mind in Germany. And you've also seen women in the U.S., incredible mayors, incredible governors. I look in the Senate for Democrats in the last election. Three of the four races where we beat the presidential ticket were women running in Michigan, women running in Nevada, women running in Wisconsin. I mean, this happened, so I just – I don't think that's a lesson to learn. I know it's not easy running as a woman. If it was, we could play the game “Pick your favorite woman president.” You can't. But I think the president understands there's been sexism, President Biden does. But to me, I just want to move forward, and we've got incredible candidates across the board –
WELKER: Yeah.
KLOBUCHAR: – are running at all levels of government. So let's work on helping the American people, instead of looking backwards.
WELKER: Senator –
KLOBUCHAR: Instead of looking at what happened years ago, I want to look at the now, and people need our help.
WELKER: Let's look forward. I know you know how tough it is to run for president, because you've done it before. Would you rule out running again, Senator? Yes or no? We're out of time.
KLOBUCHAR: I am focused on my job right now. I'm third in leadership in the Senate, and we have a lot to do, and that means making sure people have got their Medicaid, their Social Security and taking on these Trump tariffs that are hurting the American people and our economy and not helping small businesses. I want a better America, and I just don't think that's how we're going to get there with this president.
WELKER: Alright. I don't hear you ruling it out. Senator Klobuchar, thank you very much for joining and Happy Mother’s Day again –
KLOBUCHAR: Thanks, Kristen. It's great to be on. Happy Mother's Day.
WELKER: Happy Mother's Day. Enjoy the rest of your day. We really appreciate you joining us on Mother's Day.
