Trump lashes out at Leonard Leo, legal activist who helped him pick Supreme Court justices: "Probably hates America"

President Trump attacked the powerful conservative legal activist Leonard Leo late Thursday, calling the former Federalist Society leader who once advised the president on Supreme Court picks a "bad person" who "probably hates America."

Mr. Trump lashed out at Leo a day after a panel of judges — including a Trump appointee — called most of his tariffs illegal. The ruling, which was paused by an appellate court, put Mr. Trump at odds with some conservative lawyers: Two of the three judges who decided the case were appointed by Republicans, and the decision came in response to a lawsuit that cited right-leaning legal theories.

The president attacked the three judges behind that ruling in a Truth Social post late Thursday, calling it a "horrible, Country threatening decision" and suggesting it was made because the judges hate him. He then turned his attention to Leo and the Federalist Society, two longstanding pillars of the conservative legal movement widely credited with helping Mr. Trump pick hundreds of federal judges — some of whom have ruled against his administration.