Fox’s Napolitano dismisses suggestion US is in a ‘constitutional crisis’

Fox News senior analyst Andrew Napolitano dismissed the statement by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) that the government is now in a “constitutional crisis.”

Napolitano made the comment to “Fox & Friends” on Thursday after the program played clips of some Democrats declaring a constitutional crisis following a party-line 24-16 vote by the Judiciary Committee to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt. 

“Do we have a constitutional crisis? In my opinion we don’t,” Napolitano also said. “We would have a constitutional crisis if the courts ordered the president or the Congress to do something and either of them defied the courts. That’s the crisis. Right now it’s just a clash.”  

The perspective comes as Democrats push forward with their effort for Barr to release the unredacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation on Wednesday. In response, the White House invoked executive privilege at the recommendation of the Justice Department.

Trump recently took shots at Napolitano for being “hostile” in a series of tweets to his nearly 60 million followers, while also claiming the judge had asked to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

“Ever since Andrew came to my office to ask that I appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court, and I said NO, he has been very hostile! Also asked for pardon for his friend. A good ‘pal’ of low ratings Shepard Smith,” Trump wrote in reference to the Fox News chief anchor.

….Ever since Andrew came to my office to ask that I appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court, and I said NO, he has been very hostile! Also asked for pardon for his friend. A good “pal” of low ratings Shepard Smith.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2019

“This is the way you treat your friends; how do you treat your enemies? Oh boy,” Napolitano mused in response to “Mornings with Maria” anchor Maria Bartiromo on Apr. 29.

Trump also argued Napolitano should be taken off the air for making a “very dumb legal argument” regarding the Mueller report and retweeting another tweet calling on the former New Jersey Superior Court judge to be fired.