Staff Reports
CNN, the network known for its spin and sensationalism, has found itself reluctantly backing off the narrative that President Trump is somehow ignoring a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident recently deported to El Salvador. On Tuesday, CNN’s Chief Legal Correspondent Paula Reid took to the airwaves with Jake Tapper to set the record straight, perhaps hoping to save the last shreds of credibility the network clings to.
Reid clarified that the Supreme Court did not command the Trump administration to bring Abrego Garcia back to America, as many in the media would have viewers believe. Instead, she pointed out that the court merely required the administration to “facilitate” his return. This is a critical distinction that left many media pundits scrambling to reframe their arguments, which often come from a place of bias rather than legal accuracy. It’s almost as if Reid was tossing a lifebuoy to her colleagues drowning in their own misconceptions.
The segment gained considerable traction online, highlighting the difference between the media’s dramatization of the ruling and the actual legal language used by the Supreme Court. The word “facilitate” doesn’t pack the punch that “order” does, and Reid seemed to relish explaining this “mushy” ruling to anyone willing to listen. Critics of the administration, perhaps enthralled by their own rhetoric, were caught with their pants down, having confidently asserted a case of legal defiance that simply wasn’t there.
And CNN execs still wonder why their channel won’t recover. https://t.co/3johCFwJPV
— Jenna Ellis 🐊 (@realJennaEllis) April 16, 2025
At the center of the controversy is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man with a history of residing in the U.S. due to legitimate threats from gangs in El Salvador but now finds himself in a high-security prison surrounded by dangerous criminals. Critics have used this tragic situation to throw shade at Trump, accusing him of flouting judicial authority. But as Reid painstakingly clarified, the court’s choice of words—the term “facilitate”—affords the administration some legal wiggle room, especially given El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele’s refusal to cooperate. The term “mandate” never made it onto the court’s vocabulary list, and that’s key.
As for Bukele, he’s not interested in playing the media’s game. He even went as far as labeling Abrego Garcia a “terrorist” and questioned the logic in returning a supposed criminal to a country that has worked hard to shed its “murder capital” reputation. He made it abundantly clear that smuggling Abrego Garcia back into the U.S. is not even on his radar. It’s refreshing to see a foreign leader who prioritizes the safety of his own nation, rather than caving to the whims of American liberal elite sentiment.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi stepped in to remind everyone that the ball is firmly in Bukele’s court. Bondi explained that the U.S. would assist with transport if the Salvadoran president wished to send Abrego Garcia back, but ultimately, it’s up to him. This refusal to play along with the media’s narrative signals a robust approach to foreign relations, with Trump’s administration emphasizing the need for accountability—and the ultimate control of immigration to remain with the presidency, not the courts.
