Former White House ethics lawyer: Trump actions 'pushing the limits' common in dictatorships

Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics lawyer, said that President Trump is "testing and pushing the limits" during the first week of his second term, adding that such actions are common in dictatorships.

Eisen joined MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday, where he weighed in on Trump's late-night firings of the inspectors general from multiple federal agencies,

“Donald Trump promised to be a dictator on day one, and he’s carried that forward through the entire week, including this midnight firing of the IGs,” Eisen said. “This is a country of laws, not of dictatorial leaders.”

Trump fired 17 watchdogs are various agencies. The firings may be in violation of the federal law that states the president is required to give Congress a 30-day notice of his intent to do so.

Host Jen Psaki asked Eisen about Trump apparently skirting the 30-day notice. In response, Eisen pointed to all of the president’s actions during his first week back in office, including attempting to end birthright citizenship.

"He claims there's no birthright citizenship for American people. He flouted the Constitution here," Eisen said after federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship for the children of many migrants.

"He's flouting the statute," he added, referring to congressional notification for the firing of inspectors general.

“He’s testing and pushing the limits,” Eisen, who served in the Obama administration, said. “I agree with him on one thing. Yes, it's a common thing to do in a dictatorship, not in the United States of America.”

Trump, then the GOP frontrunner, was questioned by Fox News host Sean Hannity in late 2023 about reports casting his second term as a dictatorship.

“They want to call you a dictator,” Hannity said, referring to the media reports. “To be clear, do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people?”

“You mean like they’re using right now,” Trump initially responded, before pivoting to the criminal indictments he faced.

Hannity again revisited the question, asking: “Under no circumstances — you are promising America tonight. You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”

“Except for day one,” Trump responded before a live audience in Davenport, Iowa.

“I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill,” Trump added.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump administration for comment on Eisen's remarks.