'Remarkably poor strategy': Expert says Trump team's bid to bully justices will backfire

Former President Donald Trump's legal team is setting itself up for disaster by trying to threaten and intimidate Supreme Court Justices, Protect Democracy executive director Ian Bassin said on MSNBC Friday.

This comes as one of Trump's top lawyers stated on Fox News that she wants Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of Trump's appointees, to "step up" on cases involving the former president.

"The fact that you have Alina Habba showing up on Fox one day saying he's worried the court won't rule in his favor and then another day saying they expect justices like Justice Kavanaugh to, quote, 'step up,'" said anchor Alicia Menendez. "I mean, the subtext seems pretty clear."

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"Well, it's remarkably poor strategy," said Bassin. "They're used to bullying elected officials who need to run for office in Republican primaries who depend on Trump's blessing. But of course the justices of the Supreme Court have life tenure, and they want to establish they're independent. I think that strategy of trying to pressure, bully, or intimidate Justice Kavanagh is likely to backfire."

"But I want to make sure we don't lose the forest for the trees here, which is that whatever the court does in the details or on the merits, take stock of the fact we are having a national debate of whether one of the likely nominees for a major party for the president engaged in insurrection against the United States," Bassin continued.

"Regardless of the law, shouldn't that be just politically disqualifying for either party?" he added. "Don't both parties want someone without a question as to whether or not they engaged in insurrection?"

Watch the video below or at the link.

Ian Bassin says Trump team's bullying of Brett Kavanaugh is a "poor strategy"www.youtube.com