A former Bush Justice Department official is warning President Donald Trump against smearing the U.S. Supreme Court after the justices delivered a highly anticipated ruling that struck down the legal foundation of his sweeping global tariffs — a major setback for his economic agenda.

“It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,” the president said on Friday, as the Guardian reported. Trump said he was “ashamed” of the six justices who sided with the majority opinion. “Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”

“They’re just being fools and lapdogs for the Rinos [Republicans in name only] and the radical left Democrats, and not that they should have anything at all to do with it,” Trump added. “They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our constitution.”

John Yoo, the prominent Bush administration Deputy Assistant Attorney General known for writing what have been called the “torture memos,” appeared on Fox News on Friday and warned the president.

READ MORE: Donald Trump’s Very Bad Day

“I think President Trump would be wise to no longer call the justices somehow tools of foreign influence,” he said, reminding him that the Roberts Supreme Court has been giving him “a number of wins.”

Yoo also noted that, had he been at the DOJ under President Trump, he would have been “shuddering” when he heard him speak about the court as he did, “because President Trump has got a number of other big cases pending at the court, like whether it can fire the heads of independent commissions, whether it can fire a governor of the Federal Reserve Board, whether redistricting can go on.”

Even Fox News is telling Trump to pump the brakes on accusing SCOTUS of being controlled by foreign actors, reminding him he has other “big cases” before the court.

John Yoo: “I think President Trump would be wise to no longer call the justices somehow tools of foreign influence.”

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) February 20, 2026 at 2:31 PM

READ MORE: ‘Can’t Play Cute With Me’: Trump Tries to Spin Big-Power Snub of Peace Board
 

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Political commentator and strategist James Carville says the Epstein files scandal is not ever going to go away.

“It’s never gonna go away, and if you think about it, it can’t go away,” Carville told to Al Hunt on their Politicon podcast.

“What do you have?” he continued. “You have a really rich guy, filthy rich … with a glamorous woman who’s harvesting young women around the world. You got princes, and Ivy League professors, and politicians, and bankers, and sports organizers, and didn’t get all of that. And then you got a dead body.”

“And then you got secrecy everywhere, and it’s not going away 30 years from now. They’re gonna still be digging through that stuff. They lied about everything,” Carville said.

READ MORE: Donald Trump’s Very Bad Day

“There’s nothing you can say to make this go away,” he continued. “And there’s so much s — — we don’t know.”

“You know, I didn’t — I must say, six months ago, I did not think that the Epstein issue would still be with us, and certainly not with us through the 2026 campaign,” Hunt said. “I was wrong.”

“There are three reasons it’s not going away. Number one, the dissembling, by the White House, and its subsidiary, the Justice Department — there clearly is a cover up of some stuff,” he added.

“Two, Ro Khanna, a liberal Democrat, and Tom Massey, a conservative Republican, are leading the fight for full exposure. They have proven to be bulldogs, and they won’t give up,” Hunt said.

He added that the third reason the Epstein files are here to stay “is those victims, the women who have courageously spoken up against the sexual abuse trafficking of Epstein and his accomplice, Maxwell, won’t be silenced until the Justice Department ends this limited hangout approach.”

Hunt also pointed to “a headline in Wednesday’s Washington Post, quote, Epstein fallout rattles the globe. Many powerful people face consequences,” which he noted was “true in every place but the Trump administration.”

READ MORE: ‘Can’t Play Cute With Me’: Trump Tries to Spin Big-Power Snub of Peace Board

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President Donald Trump’s Friday got off to a rough start as three critical components of his economic agenda collapsed.

A major economic indicator, gross domestic product (GDP), slowed significantly, dropping to just 1.4% annually as inflation rose. And the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the legal basis for the president’s sweeping global tariffs, ruling that his use of that authority was unlawful.

“U.S. growth slowed more than expected near the end of 2025 as the government shutdown impacted spending and investment, while a key inflation metric showed high prices are still a factor for the economy, according to data released Friday,” CNBC reported.

GDP was expected to come in at 2.5%, experts predicted.

For 2025, the president delivered GDP far softer than his predecessor, President Joe Biden, did in 2024.

“For the full year in 2025, the U.S. economy grew at a 2.2% pace, down from the 2.8% increase in 2024,” CNBC noted.

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Trump and his administration had been aiming for 3% to 4% growth.

“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in December, “said that it’s been a ‘very strong’ holiday season for the economy and predicted that the U.S. would end the year at 3% real GDP,” CNBC reported at the time.

Meanwhile, inflation “held firm in December, according to a gauge most closely watched by Fed officials that increased 3% from a year ago,” CNBC added, meaning that overall prices are three percent higher than they were one year ago.

But for Trump, perhaps the most devastating news came from the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a 6–3 majority, said Trump had acted outside his authority by unilaterally imposing global tariffs without congressional approval.

Critics were quick to weigh in.

“The ‘Trump economy’ is a story of lost jobs, and higher prices, caused by greed, corruption and incompetence,” noted professor and investor Adam Cochran.

“It’s hard to imagine a ruling that cuts more deeply to the heart of Trump’s identity in public life,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney wrote, “he has linked his presidency to the ability to use tariffs as a deal-making cudgel and bend other global powers to his will.”

Aaron Fritschner, Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) wrote simply, “He’s gonna be big mad.”

READ MORE: ‘Can’t Play Cute With Me’: Trump Tries to Spin Big-Power Snub of Peace Board

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