After President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday night, speculation ran rampant after the president was heard thanking U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
MSNBC speculated that Trump was thanking Roberts for a few different reasons, including the immunity that was granted by Roberts in July last year from prosecution for official acts, a ruling by Roberts that kept Trump on the ballot, or Robert’s ruling regarding the events of Jan. 6 at the Capitol building which narrowed the obstruction charges against Jan.6 defendants.
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The two-second show of appreciation triggered a momentous reaction from Trump’s opposition. However, Trump confirmed that the outrage about his short greeting to Roberts was a nothing burger.
Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to clear up the confusion, calling the journalists who spun the speculation “sleazebags.”
“The Fake ‘Play the Ref’ News, in order to create a divide between me and our great U.S. Supreme Court, heard me say last night, loudly and openly as I was walking past the Justices on the way to the podium, ‘thank you,’ to Chief Justice John Roberts,” Trump said.
The president then said he didn’t know why the mainstream media was making such a big fuss about it, and noted he was thanking Roberts for swearing him in during his inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20.
“Like most people, I don’t watch Fake News CNN or MSDNC, but I understand they are going ‘crazy’ asking what is it that I was thanking Justice Roberts for? They never called my office to ask, of course, but if they had I would have told these sleazebag ‘journalists’ that I thanked him for SWEARING ME IN ON INAUGURATION DAY, AND DOING A REALLY GOOD JOB IN SO DOING! The Fake News never quits!”
Democrats had planned on protesting Trump’s address, floating plans to use noise makers or wear the colors of what they support, such as wearing yellow and blue to show their support for Ukraine after Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance’s public blow up with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Democrats also appeared to not stand and cheer when Trump made 13-year-old DJ Daniels, a brain cancer survivor who dreamed of becoming a law enforcement officer before his diagnosis in 2018, an honorary agent of the Secret Service.
