CNN’s Anderson Cooper explains why Trump’s Israel gambit was a ‘potentially unconstitutional’ attack on Congress

CNN’s Anderson Cooper argued Thursday night on his show that President Donald Trump’s latest broadside against Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Minnesota and Ilhan Omar of Michigan was “potentially unconstitutional.”

Trump, who has routinely targeted the Muslim congresswomen and hypocritically accused them of anti-Semitism, urged Israel on Thursday to bar them from entering the country. Reports suggested that Trump has been pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to take this step, and the Israeli government wasn’t inclined not to. But after Trump tweeted his opinion, Israel made the ban official.

How could this be unconstitutional? Cooper argued that Trump’s targeting of lawmakers in their official duties could violate the Speech or Debate Clause of the foundational document.

“The president and the courts have a sworn duty to not interfere with duly elected lawmakers going about their jobs,” Cooper said. “Which, today, it seems the president did. With a foreign government’s help, no less.”

Watch the clip below: