‘Embarassing!’ Mehdi Hasan Relentlessly Bombards Dan Crenshaw Over Claim Trump’s Own White House Debunked
Former MSNBC host and current Zeteo News chief Mehdi Hasan relentlessly hammered Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) over the detention of Mahmoud Khalil and a claim that conflicts with President Donald Trump’s White House.
Khalil is the pro-Palestinian Columbia University student activist who has been arrested and whom the Trump administration is trying to deport on the basis of a Cold War-era provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked during a briefing if a crime needs to be charged in order to deport Khalil, and she responded that “Secretary Marco Rubio reserves the right to revoke” his status under the act, alleging no crime.
And a Trump official told The Free Press that “The allegation here is not that he was breaking the law” and cited the provision that allows the secretary of state discretion to remove anyone they deem to be “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America.”
On Wednesday’s episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Crenshaw claimed the basis for Khalil’s detention was that he “broke the law” — which Hasan quickly and relentlessly pointed out is contradicted by the Trump White House.
Hasan called Crenshaw’s claims “embarrassing” and told him, among other things, to “Check with the White House on talking points before you come on TV”:
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: Now here’s the law that we’re referencing. You said he broke no laws, but it’s section eight, U.S. code 1227.
“Being a representative of a political or social group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity” is against the law and a violation of your of of the social contract of having that visa.
That’s the argument. There–. There isn’t some– this isn’t some McCarthyism–.
MEHDI HASAN: That’s false! That’s false!
(CROSSTALK).
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: This isn’t some vague issue. How is this false? I just read to you the actual US code that this is–.
MEHDI HASAN: That let’s go. Like this. I’ll tell you. Well, no, I’m not sure you do. I can tell you how it’s false, because according to the White House, Dan! According to the White House. The White House went to the Free Press yesterday. You should check your facts before you come on and defend the White House. The White House went to the Free Press and said we’re not accusing them of breaking any laws. So Congressman Dan Crenshaw was coming on TV making wild accusations of lawbreaking based on a quote that’s not from Mahmoud–.
(CROSSTALK)
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: It’s just referencing the law.
MEHDI HASAN: They are. Well, hold on. Hold on. You’re wrong, Dan, first, except you’re wrong. The White House said to the Free Press, Barry Weiss’s right wing Free Press this week. We are not accusing him of breaking any laws. In fact, if you want to understand the laws, you need to look at the Immigration National Act of 1952. They’re actually taking him into deportation proceedings under section 237 A4, C(i), which allows Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, to personally deport a migrant because he believes that migrants presence has serious potential adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy.
That is the obscure act, which, by the way, was designed for Eastern European Jews to get rid of them because they would be deemed to be communist in the 1950s.
That is what Rubio is using to get rid of a lawful permanent resident. Now, whether that’s legal or not. Trump’s late sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, said it was a a violation of the First Amendment. We’ll see if the Supreme Court gets involved. But the idea that we should live in a country where Marco Rubio or Anthony Blinken can remove a green card, hold it because he doesn’t like his views, and they’re against U.S. foreign policy, some nebulous aim that’s outrageous. And there was a time when the Republicans–.
(CROSSTALK)
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: –You’ve added you’ve added to my argument, and I appreciate that. Perhaps you should be defending the Trump administration.
MEHDI HASAN: No, I’m pointing out to you–.
(CROSSTALK).
MEHDI HASAN: That he hasn’t committed any criminal vio–. He hasn’t broken any laws!
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: Rubio is–.
(CROSSTALK)
MEHDI HASAN: No Dan. Let me explain it to you again. That law gives Rubio the power to do it. That doesn’t mean Mamoud Khalil has broken any laws.
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: I gave you another standard, and I read it and I referenced another law.
MEHDI HASAN: And you’re wrong and you’re wrong. The White House disowned you Dan, and the White House disowned you. Your White House, Dan! It’s embarrassing for you because the White House disowned you. And you don’t know that.
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: You just quoted Rubio referencing a law. Did you.
MEHDI HASAN: Not know? Because you don’t understand the law.
(CROSSTALK)
MEHDI HASAN: Not? The law gives Rubio. Let me let me say it slowly then.
Rubio has the power to remove someone he believes is against U.S. foreign policy. That is not someone who’s broken the law. That just gives him immigration power. Nobody is suggesting he has broken the law, he hasn’t been charged with.
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: That’s fine. I understand what you’re saying–
MEHDI HASAN: Saying what you say. You say he broke the law. The White House says that you can’t check with the White House on talking points before you come on TV!
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: I can have my own opinion on the legal justification for removing this person–
MEHDI HASAN: But the government disagrees with you that you’re here to defend.
Watch above and watch the full episode here via Piers Morgan Uncensored.
