Legal analyst Lisa Rubin said that her jaw dropped when she heard Secretary of State Marco Rubio response when asked whether the United States has been in touch with El Salvador about the Maryland father wrongfully deported there.
"I'd never tell you that," Rubio said about facilitating the return of Kilmar Ábrego García. "And you know who else? I would never tell a judge, because foreign policy belongs to the president and the executive branch. Not some judge. We'll conduct foreign policy appropriately if we need to, but we won't discuss it, and no one can make us discuss it because that's how foreign policy works."
Rubin said of the comment, "My jaw just dropped open for a couple of reasons."
She said that Rubio's claim of what he would "never tell a judge" is "in fact, something that A. happened and B. likely was communicated to the judge overseeing [the] Ábrego García case."
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She noted that litigation has paused because an application was filed to seal the case, allowing them to discuss foreign policy privately.
"We later learned that discovery was stayed at the agreement of both parties. Usually, when that happens in any civil litigation, much less an immigration case, it's because some sort of resolution is forthcoming, or at least people believe they're driving toward a resolution," Rubin explained.
She said that her "guess" is that the government asked the judge to keep things under seal because they're trying to negotiate the return of Ábrego García.
"So, one, there are indications that what Secretary Rubio said might not be true," Rubin explained.
"But the second part is that this is an astonishing conception of what's known as the State Secrets Privilege," she continued. "In very rare circumstances, the administration can walk into a court and say to a judge, I don't have to tell you that because it would compromise the foreign policy of this country and reveal what are known as state secrets. But the justification for the invocation of that privilege has to be very specific and supported by case law. There's no indication it has been invoked in this case, much less in very many cases over the history of the United States."
So, for Rubio to claim that they won't discuss foreign policy with any judge, "That's not how the law works," Rubin said.
See her comments below or at the link here.