CNN’s Elie Honig Says Trump ‘Strategy’ On Border, DOGE Is ‘Not Unconstitutional’

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Monday President Donald Trump’s efforts to address wasteful government spending and illegal immigration were “not unconstitutional.”

The Trump administration is appealing injunctions imposed by federal judges that targeted the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order ending birthright citizenship. Honig said Trump’s plan was to “make plaintiffs” and force them to “sue” to stop his efforts.

“Look, the strategy that Donald Trump has used here so far is he’s going to do what he wants first, and then he’s going to make plaintiffs,” Honig told “CNN News Central” co-host John Berman. “He’s going to make state attorneys general. He’s going to make private citizens go sue him in court if they want to stop him from doing what he wants, they have to make him. So that’s definitely been a strategy by the president. But that’s not unconstitutional.”

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“Where it crosses a line is if that happens, he goes into court and a court says, you’re not allowed to do this executive branch or I’m putting it on hold, I’m putting an injunction and then if the president or the executive Branch defies that, that’s where we get into real trouble here,” Honig continued. “So for sure, Donald Trump has taken a conscious legal strategy of, I’m going to do what I want, maybe I’ll lose in the courts. That’s fine. I mean, I think there’s problems in that, but that’s not unconstitutional.”