The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website November 6, 2017:
President Trump called for “stronger justice” in terrorism cases, saying the U.S. is currently a “laughingstock.” The president’s remarks came a day after a terrorist attack in New York City on Oct. 31. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
“We also have to come up with punishment that’s far quicker and far greater than the punishment these animals are getting right now. They’ll go through court for years. And, at the end, they’ll be — who knows what happens. We need quick justice and we need strong justice — much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. Because what we have right now is a joke and it’s a laughingstock. And no wonder so much of this stuff takes place.”
—President Trump, remarks to reporters, Nov. 1
After the arrest of Sayfullo Saipov, who was accused of killing eight people in Manhattan with a rental truck, allegedly in support of the Islamic State militant group, President Trump decried the U.S. legal system as “a joke” and “a laughingstock.” His press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, explained later that the president “was voicing his frustration with the lengthy process that often comes with a case like this.” Continue reading “President Trump’s statement that the speed of U.S. terrorism trials ‘is a laughingstock’”