Rep. Jamie Raskin on presidential pardons, Trump thwarting the Constitution, and what keeps him up at night

In a wide-ranging interview with The Advocate, Democratic Maryland U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin expressed deep concerns about the current administration's actions, highlighting potential constitutional violations and the erosion of democratic norms. Further, he called for a unified Democratic strategy to counter Donald Trump's actions more effectively.

Monday morning Trump called former President Joe Biden's preemptive pardons — which included January 6 House committee members — “void” and “vacant” because of the alleged use of an autopen to sign the pardons, Raskin, a member of the committee and one of those receiving the preemptive pardons, dismissed the objections as unfounded.

"The Constitution, of course, doesn't say anything about what kind of pen has to be used to sign a pardon," Raskin said, defending Biden's actions. “President Biden exercised his pardon power in response to threats against prominent figures like Liz Cheney and our committee Chairman Bennie Thompson.”

Last week, after all except one Democratic House member voted against the House Republicans’ stopgap budget bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer abruptly changed his mind and voted to let the temporary spending bill move forward in the Senate, along with nine other Senate Democrats. Schumer voted against the bill itself, which passed by a simple majority, largely along party lines. It would have taken 60 votes to block the measure from coming to a final vote. Raskin expressed frustration over the lack of coordination between House and Senate Democrats regarding the recent stopgap funding bill.

“The Republicans' continuing resolution added insult to injury by increasing the billions of dollars in cuts of Medicaid and other health care programs," Raskin lamented. “The absence of a unified strategy by the Democrats mirrored past instances when disjointed approaches weakened the party. Leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who live practically in the same neighborhood in New York City, need to collaborate closely. They really need to do their best to hammer these things out and come to the unified Democratic caucus with a strategy, because it's embarrassing to everybody."

And while the Democrats embarrass themselves, the Trump administration is making a mockery of the Constitution. Raskin, a constitutional law professor, accused the administration of acting "in complete and total disregard of the Constitution. They act as if the Constitution is some kind of minor inconvenience or obstacle that they just have to work around.”

He highlighted issues such as the manipulation of appropriated funds, undermining Congress's power of the purse under Article One. “These appropriations acts are laws that must be followed. They are not mere recommendations,” he explained. “While the courts have ruled against several of the administration's actions, it's alarming that such legal battles are necessary.”

He cited as an example the executive order on birthright citizenship, which was struck down by judges appointed bu multiple presidents, including Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and even Trump. “The Reagan-appointed judge described it as the easiest case that he ever decided because of it being a clear constitutional violation,” Raskin said.

“You don't have to be a lawyer to understand what's wrong with it. You just have to know how to read the first sentence of the 14th Amendment that says, ‘Every person born or naturalized the United States and subjects the jurisdiction thereof is a citizen of the United States,” Raskin added. “They are just acting in complete contempt of the Constitution. And Trump has always done that. He's always acted like the Constitution is a minor inconvenience for whatever he wants to do.”

It’s also, it seems, a minor inconvenience in his implicit threat of remaining president after his term-limit second term in 2028. “He won't be able to run again for office, which isn't to say that he won't try to find a way to stay in office,” Raskin said. “There’s no way he can stay in office, constitutionally. The 22nd Amendment forbids it. So without changing the Constitution, there's no way. But, as we saw on January 6, 2021, this is a guy who is hell-bent on staying in power. So who knows what he might try to do.”

“He was all over the country saying that he just wanted people to come vote one more time and was essentially promising everything to everybody, including a cure to inflation, which was a promise that went out the window immediately,” Raskin added.

Raskin likewise expressed alarm over Elon Musk's growing influence in government affairs, suggesting that Musk is part of a "Silicon Valley mafia.” “They believe in a post-constitutional era, and due to their immense wealth, they view the Constitution as irrelevant,” Rasking remarked.

Further, Raskin criticized Musk's attempts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development. “This move was both illegal" and "unconstitutional,” he observed. “Musk doesn't have the authority to dismantle an agency created by Congress and funded by taxpayer dollars. We're not going to allow this to happen. It will not stand."

Raskin stressed the necessity of informing the public about the human impact of the administration's policies, particularly the fatal consequences globally of USAID cuts. “The nation is witnessing a war of the richest people on earth against everybody else," he pointed out. “You only need to look at the presence of billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk at Trump's inauguration as indicative of the current power dynamics. There must be solidarity among the 99 percent of the rest of us to counter policies that harm working people and the poor.”

Raskin also addressed the administration's attacks on transgender people, characterizing them as "fascist-style scapegoating.” “I’m confident that Americans, who generally reject cruelty toward marginalized groups, will stand in solidarity with the transgender community. The administration has made some headway in public opinion regarding issues like collegiate athletics, but it’s a problem that they have created.”

In the midst of all the unconstitutional moves by the Trump administration, Raskin acknowledged that the judiciary, so far, has acted as a crucial check on the administration's overreach. “While the administration has grudgingly complied with court decisions, there are ongoing issues, particularly concerning the release of appropriated funds,” Raskin emphasized “It’s important that the court orders are enforced and that the courts hold the administration accountable through measures like civil and criminal contempt when necessary.”

When asked what keeps him up at night, Raskin, the constitutional expert, had a more dire worry. “I’ll tell you what literally kept me up last night,” he relayed. “It woke me up this morning, I began to notice that Trump is making reference to World War III frequently. He made reference to World War III during that dressing down of [Ukrainian] President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. He’s been slipping it in here and there. And when he begins dropping verbal hints like that, it means it's something on his mind.

“If you put all the pieces together, he's gotten very soft on the Chinese government. He's pro-Putin, and then he keeps making overtures against Greenland, Canada, and Panama. And what you can see developing is the idea that Putin should have his imperial way with Europe. That the Chinese government can have their way with Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Tibetans. And the neo-monarchists in the United States can expand the territory of the country at will by sweeping in other nations, and so there’s basically an Orwellian sense of the future.”