Conservative Legal Icon Calls Out Trump’s ‘Most Important Words Ever' From A President

“The temptation here is to dismiss the president’s words as just another gaffe [...] but I don’t think that we should do that," said J. Michael Luttig.

Conservative former federal judge J. Michael Luttig on Monday sounded the alarm over Donald Trump’s recent remark that he doesn’t know if he is obligated to uphold the U.S. Constitution, calling it “perhaps the most important words ever spoken by a president of the United States.”

Luttig, a longtime critic of Trump’s anti-democratic rhetoric, told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace: “The president always says what’s on his mind with almost perfect clarity of what is on his mind. Now, sometimes what’s on his mind is confusing, but the words that he chooses are perfectly clear as to his confusion.”

He continued: “The temptation here is to dismiss the president’s words as just another gaffe, of which he makes many. But I don’t think that we should do that. I’m quite confident that the president was saying what is on his mind and that is that he, the president of the United States, doesn’t necessarily believe that he is obligated to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as it is interpreted by the Supreme Court.”

Luttig characterized Trump’s statement as a form of “constitutional denialism,” the school of thought that argues the Constitution doesn’t mean what the Supreme Court interprets it to be.

We Won't Back DownYour Support Fuels Our MissionYour Support Fuels Our MissionDonald Trump has been in office for 100 days. Our newsroom has stood strong — fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. And we're not stopping now. Would you support our mission during this critical time in our nation's history?We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.