‘Abused her Position’: MSNBC Contributor Says Arrest of Judge Dugan Could Actually ‘Help Republicans’

An MSNBC contributor bucked the dominant direction of the network’s coverage on the FBI arrest of a judge in Wisconsin this week when he told anchor Alex Witt that there is merit to the Trump administration’s accusations, and that the situation could actually help Republicans rather than hurt them.

Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI this week on obstruction charges for her alleged role in the attempt by Milwaukee resident and illegal immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz to evade U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who were there to arrest him. Flores-Ruiz was arrested outside the courthouse anyway while attempting to flee with his attorney, according to reports.

Brendan Buck, an MSNBC contributor who was formerly an aide to both John Boehner and Paul Ryan during their terms as Republican Speakers of the House, was joined on Saturday’s Alex Witt Reports by Michael Hardaway, a former communications director for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and aide to President Barack Obama, and the two discussed the case with Witt.

Hardaway, after seeing the clip of Attorney General Pam Bondi blasting Judge Dugan in the “how dare she” clip that has gone viral this week, suggested the judge’s arrest was unjust and simply “intimidation” on the part of President Donald Trump.

“This is clearly an attempt by the Trump administration to declare war on the judicial branch, which is laid out in our Constitution as separate and co-equal to his executive branch,” said Hardaway.

But Buck took a different view when Witt asked him about it.

“Is this administration testing the waters of what kind of rhetoric they can use around immigration crackdowns?” Witt asked. “I mean, how do you think this is going to be seen, big picture?”

“Look, the headline on this was heart-stopping. You know, they arrest a judge,” said Buck. “But then you look at the facts of the matter, they’re actually pretty bad for her.”

He continued, citing the charging document and saying “it does sound like there were people, ICE agents who had a warrant for this person’s arrest, and she gave them the runaround and tried to get the man out of the building without them seeing it. That is obstruction.”

He acknowledged that this will still have to be decided in court, but added, “I do think this actually has the potential to help Republicans, or the White House, based on the facts here. This does appear that there was a judge who abused her position to help this man. And that is the kind of thing that Republicans can use to their advantage.”

Buck also addressed part of Witt’s question to Hardaway a few minutes earlier when she said, “Do Democrats have to now be careful how they proceed defending the judge’s actions?”

Circling back to that during his response, Buck said that yes, “Democrats do need to be careful about just assuming, because the judge was arrested, that it was illegitimate. It sounds like based on the facts that there was real reason to intervene here.”

WITT: Is this administration testing the waters of what kind of rhetoric they can use around immigration crackdowns? I mean, how do you think this is going to be seen, big picture?

BUCK: Well, I do certainly think they’re sending a message here. Look, the headline on this was heart-stopping. You know, they arrest a judge.

But then you look at the facts of the matter, they’re actually pretty bad for her. It does, if you believe the charging document, it does sound like there were people, ICE agents who had a warrant for this person’s arrest, and she gave them the runaround and tried to get the man out of the building without them seeing it. That is obstruction.

She’ll obviously have her day in court. But I do think this actually has the potential to help Republicans, or the White House, based on the facts here. This does appear that there was a judge who abused her position to help this man. And that is the kind of thing that Republicans can use to their advantage.

And Democrats do need to be careful about just assuming, because the judge was arrested, that it was illegitimate. It sounds like based on the facts that there was real reason to intervene here.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.