April 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said he could bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States, but didn’t say he would.
In an interview with ABC News Tuesday, Trump was asked by interviewer Terry Moran about how the Supreme Court upheld an order that Abrego Garcia be returned to the United States, and he said a lawyer told him “it was a mistake” that he was here and then alleged that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his representation has repeatedly denied.
Moran then told Trump how he could just make a call to get Abrego Garcia back stateside, and the president replied, “I could.”
Trump was again told that he could call El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and use the power of the presidency to get Abrego Garcia back, to which Trump responded “And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” and “But he’s not.”
Trump alleged that Abrego Garcia “tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him, okay? This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.”
Abrego Garcia has lived in the United States legally with a green card and had not been charged with a crime nor appeared before a judge before he was deported.
Trump then continued to argue that Abrego Garcia was a gang member, but at that point Moran tried to change the subject. The President then started to discuss Abrego Garcia’s tattoos. Trump has publicly shown of a photo of Abrego Garcia’s hands, and in the photo there are markings which have been interpreted to confirm membership in MS-13.
Moran mentioned that it has been widely argued that he photo Trump showed had been altered, but Trump insisted the tattoos were real and the topic was “fake news.”
Moran then pointed out photos taken of Abrego Garcia in El Salvador don’t show the tattoos that appeared in the photo Trump has shown, but Trump insisted the photo accurately showed the tattoos to exist.
Trump finally said to Moran, “Why don’t you just say, ‘Yes, he does,’ and, you know, go on to something else,” and Moran immediately changed the topic.