Trump blasts judges, fueling fear of constitutional clash

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump slammed “highly political judges” on Tuesday as his new administration veered closer to a constitutional clash with the courts over his plans to radically overhaul the government and amass power in the White House.

With the Republican Party controlling Congress and completely loyal to Trump, the billionaire president has largely ignored the legislature as he carries out his unprecedented policies.

But he has faced growing pushback from the courts since taking office three weeks ago, with US media outlets reporting 11 orders issued against the administration -- five of them on Monday alone -- from dozens of federal lawsuits. As the courts and Trump appeared increasingly to be on a collision course, he lashed out on Truth Social.

“Billions of Dollars of FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE, has already been found in the investigation of our incompetently run Government. Now certain activists and highly political judges want us to slow down, or stop,” Trump posted.

“Losing this momentum will be very detrimental to finding the TRUTH, which is turning out to be a disaster for those involved in running our Government. Much left to find. No Excuses!!!”

Trump first ran up against the judiciary over an attempt to freeze $3 trillion in federal grants and loans, a deferred resignation programme for government workers, and a plan to transfer transgender inmates to men´s prisons.

He has also clashed with judges over his abolition of birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants, sending Venezuelan migrants to Guantanamo Bay, funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the firing of the government´s ethics watchdog and placing workers from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on leave.