Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
FARGO (KFGO) – North Dakota U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer is separating from the president on a number of issues including some executive orders, handling of a former staff member, and pardons in the first days of the second Trump Administration.
Cramer says he has a problem with President Trump’s executive order Tuesday to freeze federal funding for grants and loans. That order was rescinded Wednesday afternoon, but Cramer says it tests the separation of powers and how much belongs to the executive branch.
“I do not think that the president has the authority – on his own – to rescind, or to stop funding that has already passed both authorizing and appropriation committees and signed into law,” Cramer says.
Cramer says he believes President Trump’s executive order pausing the TikTok ban was also an overstep because it was a bill passed by Congress, signed by former President Biden, and upheld by the Supreme Court.
Cramer says he disagrees with new National Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s notification that former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired 4-star Gen. Mark Milley is losing his security clearance and security detail. Hegseth also ordered a review of Milley’s conduct to determine whether he should be stripped of a star.
Milley served as Chairman for Presidents Trump and Biden, although the former general’s relationship with Trump became contentious late in the president’s first term in office.
Cramer says he doesn’t believe Milley should have lost his security clearance or detail and says he shouldn’t be stripped of a star.
The senator also disagrees with President Trump’s pardons for people who committed violent crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I’ve been pretty open that I don’t believe he should have [pardoned them], and I was open about that prior to it,” Cramer says. “At the same time, it’s not like they didn’t do any time. I mean, the minimum they did is four years in jail, which is not nothing. Granted, some of them had a 20-year sentence or something like that for some of the violent crimes. [They] probably should have served more of that sentence.”
Cramer says President Trump’s pardons, coupled with former President Biden’s pardons in his last days in office are troublesome.
“What I worry about is that pardon authority that two presidents now – back to back within days of each other – in my view, have abused a bit,” Cramer says.
Cramer made the comments during KFGO’s News and Views with Joel Heitkamp. Listen to the full interview here –
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