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The Ingraham Angle 2/20/26 FULL END SHOW | ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS Tᖇᑌᗰᑭ February 20, 2026
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00:01Good evening, everyone. I'm Laura Ingram. This is Ingram Angle from Washington tonight. Thanks,
00:06as always, for spending some time with us. Well, this obviously was not the outcome the
00:11Trump administration wanted. The Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing.
00:20And I'm ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed. They also are a,
00:27frankly, disgrace to our nation, those justices. They're an automatic no, no matter how good a
00:33case you have. It's a no. I've been waiting for this decision so long. They could have made this
00:38decision a long time ago. Not complex. They're wrong on it. It's a ridiculous decision.
00:44And what was a 6-3 decision? The chief, Justices Barrett and Gorsuch, voted with the three
00:50Democrat appointees to rule that President Trump didn't have the authority to impose either his
00:56drug-related or reciprocal tariffs on foreign countries using something called the International
01:02Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEPA. Now, early last year, President Trump had declared two
01:08emergencies. One, on fentanyl, the crisis there, and two, just on the massive trade deficits that
01:15have hollowed out U.S. manufacturing. The president's team believed that when IEPA's language granted the
01:21power to regulate the importation of goods, which necessarily included the power to impose tariffs
01:27for them. That was their viewpoint. But the court said no, that IEPA's language was too ambiguous
01:33to grant the president such sweeping authority, especially given the fact that tariff authority
01:39was specifically granted in the Constitution already to Congress. Now, the court's decision today
01:44striking down President Trump's tariff regime isn't surprising, though, to a lot of us who followed trade
01:50issues over the past 20 years and actually listened to the oral arguments. Now, it's always risky to
01:57predict where the court is going to come down in any given case. Remember, I clerked there many years
02:01ago. But the justices seem somewhat skeptical that the president has such broad unilateral authority
02:08to impose these tariffs. Yeah, the outcome was predictable, unfortunately, at least with this court
02:14makeup. Now, many in the GOP establishment, they're celebrating this decision. You know, some on the
02:20separation of powers or non-delegation grounds, others because they just hate all tariffs and don't
02:26blink when American workers' jobs are shipped overseas. And by the way, on the Democrats who, you know,
02:33voted to strike down the tariffs, you know, does anyone else remember a time when Democrats opposed
02:40Congress's authority to delegate some of its decision making, in this case, to order tariffs? I mean,
02:46think of all those independent agencies out there that liberals love. Remember, those independent
02:53agencies have power delegated to them by Congress, but they technically fall under the executive branch.
03:00Now, the dissents of both Justice Thomas and Kavanaugh were persuasive and exceedingly reasonable.
03:07First, brilliance from Justice Thomas. Congress authorized the president to regulate importation.
03:13Throughout American history, the authority to regulate importation has been understood to include the
03:18authority to impose duties on imports. The meaning of that phrase was beyond doubt by the time that
03:24Congress enacted this statute, shortly after President Nixon's highly publicized duties on imports when
03:31they were upheld based on identical language. The statute that the president relied on, therefore,
03:36authorized him to impose the duties on imports at issue in these cases.
03:41And Justice Kavanaugh just, he ended up just laying out a roadmap for how the president can still, and as
03:49we know
03:49now will, impose tariffs under already well-established laws. Now, today, Trump reminded everyone, again, going back to
03:59that Kavanaugh dissent, that even without this IEPA statute, tariffs are here to stay.
04:04I will sign an order to impose a 10 percent global tariff under Section 122, over and above our normal
04:13tariffs already being charged. And we're also initiating several Section 301 and other investigations
04:21to protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies.
04:29As Justice Kavanaugh noted, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 is the law of the land, and it
04:35allows the
04:36president to declare a balance-of-payments emergency where he could have imposed as much as 15 percent for 150
04:44days.
04:45And Trump already announced new investigations through what's called Section 301. Now, remember, he did this in his
04:52first term under the leadership of U.S. Trade Rep. Bob Lighthizer.
04:57China has an industrial policy that involves a lot of subsidies, a lot of dumping, a lot of forced technology
05:03transfer,
05:03all these sorts of things. So what have we done? We have prosecuted cases on anti-dumping, on countervailing duty.
05:10The president has initiated a case on so-called 301. It's a very effective tool. We'll use the WTO when
05:17we can.
05:18The president's willing to act unilaterally when he has to. Ronald Reagan used it,
05:23and he used it very effectively, and it made a big difference for our trade policy.
05:27Huge difference. By the way, those first-term tariffs, again, as I said, never overturned,
05:32not a single time, not a single tariff. Biden even kept them in place. That's how effective
05:38those tariffs were. Now, they take more time to impose and are perhaps not as sweeping as what the
05:45president would want, but they're still extremely effective. But back to that majority opinion
05:49itself. Now, the dissent is 100 percent correct. It is ludicrous to think that in IEPA, Congress gave
05:56the president the authority to regulate commerce in an emergency, which would include banning imports
06:03outright and total embargoes of imports, but that it would somehow in the statute not even allow him to
06:11charge a dollar tariff in an emergency. It doesn't make any sense.
06:15Here with us now for analysis is Jonathan Turley, Fox News contributor and George Washington University
06:20law professor. Jonathan, I feared this is the way the court was going to go, but first,
06:26your take on the court's reasoning, and then we'll get to the refusal of the court to settle the issue
06:32of
06:32a returning collected tariff monies. But first, your take on the case.
06:39Well, Laura, as you and I previously discussed, the odds were against the president in this appeal.
06:45Some of these conservative justices historically take more textual approach to statutes. They did not see
06:52the clear authority under IEPA, and there were good faith arguments on both sides. I actually thought the
06:59solicitor general of the United States did an extraordinary job in oral argument. I thought
07:05that he was marvelous. And it ultimately didn't carry the day, but that's what most of us thought
07:11would be the outcome. I expect the administration is well prepared for this. It's not a welcomed result,
07:17but it's not an unanticipated result. The key is that this doesn't mean the checks in the mail,
07:23as you noted, for refunds. It also does not mean that these tariffs are going to fall away.
07:30The president has used tariffs as part of his foreign policy, but he's also used it to secure
07:38a series of favorable trade deals, including one just in the last 24 hours with Indonesia. And I don't
07:46think that is going to change either. And so there are aspects of the result here that the president can
07:52take some solace in. You know, the court did recognize, and the majority of the court clearly
07:58recognizes, he has tariff authority under other laws. What he does not have is the easier route of IEPA,
08:06but that's not, I think, going to materially change his policies.
08:11Jonathan, at one point in Justice Thomas's dissent, he really just took aim at Gorsuch's reasoning.
08:19Neil Gorsuch, I mean, they're friends and buddies, but he said, since the 1790s,
08:25Congress has consistently delegated to the president power over foreign commerce, including
08:31the power to impose duties on imports, directly contradicting what Gorsuch claimed was not the
08:38case. And Justice Thomas went through case after case in which the court, and I mean,
08:43the Congress had indeed given that authority to the executive, given the various exigencies of the
08:48moment. Yeah, I loved his opinion. I loved the dissents. I thought they were terrific. Thomas is,
08:56of course, at his best, when he marshals history, it is where he feels most comfortable. And this is
09:03really a tour de force and where he makes that historical case. I honestly do believe that the
09:09majority had solid reasons for what they did. They believed that they were reinforcing a core power
09:17of Congress, his power over the purse. They were worried about the ambiguous language and the sort
09:24of slippery slope that could occur. But at the end of the day, I think the president is going to
09:29come out
09:29of this largely intact. And he's going to be able to pursue these these policies.
09:35I mean, Jonathan, you think those three Democrat justices, maybe not Kagan,
09:40but Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. I mean, they're always for delegating authority,
09:47right? I mean, I think Trump is right that they were going to vote no no matter what or vote
09:52to,
09:52you know, reject the appeal no matter what on that. And I'm not sure that I'm not sure I'd
09:56agree with you on the principled reasoning of at least those two.
10:01Well, it is funny that they joined these textualists because they really could
10:05didn't feel comfortable going beyond the text of the statute. It's not exactly where we usually find
10:10them. Yeah. Jonathan, always great to chat with you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Laura.
10:17Here to weigh in for more is Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy.
10:22Stephen, thank you for joining us tonight. The president was not happy today.
10:26No doubt about it. Pretty harsh words for the members of the court who did not vote to uphold
10:32these tariffs. And now J.B. Pritzker, though, is pretty happy because he thinks now the federal
10:38government should return $1,700 per Illinois family because the tariffs were struck down.
10:45Well, Governor Pritzker is not only economically illiterate, historically illiterate and probably
10:51functionally illiterate, but he is also somebody whose every action and policy is designed to hurt
10:57and betray America. Let's be very clear about this, Laura. President Trump got elected in large part
11:05to bring back our supply chains, reshore our manufacturing base, bring back our jobs from
11:10overseas. Over the last year, his historic program of tariffs has done exactly that. That's why we've
11:17seen record job growth, record wage growth and record reshoring of vital manufacturing jobs.
11:23Under Biden, under the Democrats, for four years, we saw back-breaking, double-digit, record-setting
11:31inflation, costing Americans thousands of dollars a year. Many Americans tens of thousands of dollars
11:37a year. That's what Pritzker supported. President Trump has brought inflation down to 1.4%,
11:44an ideal benchmark rate according to economists. So that's the comparison point here. But let's talk
11:51about the Supreme Court for a second. Justice Thomas said so brilliantly and eloquently,
11:57the language of the statute is clear. Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,
12:02the president has the authority to regulate foreign trade. And going back to the founding of our country,
12:07the term regulate has always meant and included the power to levy duties. But here's the good news,
12:13Laura, as cowardly, as horrendous as the Supreme Court ruling was, as poorly as it reflects on
12:20John Roberts' court and the continued torturing of our statutes and our constitution, here's the good
12:26news. The court also affirmed the president has the authority under Section 301, Section 232, Section 122,
12:35Section 338, and many other provisions of federal law that the president can levy tariffs on foreign
12:42nations. So his program will not only be fully reconstituted, but it will be expanded. And one
12:47more point, Laura, the Supreme Court also affirmed that under IEPA, the president has authority to
12:53restrict, impede, deny, license, or even fully embargo any foreign trade. So the net result of all
13:02this is we're going to keep and grow the tariffs to bring back American manufacturing, which keeps prices
13:08low by incentivizing products being made here in America. But it also means that President Trump
13:13has even more tools when it comes to dealing with foreign countries that undermine our security.
13:18Yeah, I mean, certainly the Supreme Court had no problem, you know, trying to find the right
13:25language, the ambiguous language to justify Obamacare. I think Kavanaugh pointed that out and his dissent.
13:32And so but now this is some tortured interpretation of this statute when historically this has always
13:41been a prerogative of the president and Congress, obviously, if Congress actually had the guts to do
13:46this, which we know it does not, Stephen. Right. But that's why that is why Congress gave this authority
13:52to the president, because you cannot separate out the regulation of trade with foreign countries from the
13:59conduct of our foreign policy. That's why Congress enacted the International Emergency Economic Powers
14:04Act in the first place. And again, as Justice Thomas pointed out in his dissent, it's the same basic
14:11statutory construction that Nixon used in his day to levy tariffs. And nobody at the time
14:17questioned the meaning of those words. So again, as you mentioned, the Supreme Court is torturing the
14:23plain meaning of the statute. It's a shameful ruling. It's a cowardly ruling. But the good news here,
14:28Laura, is that President Trump, as he said today, has the full authority affirmed by the Supreme Court
14:33to reinstitute and expand the tariff program to keep the cost of living low, to keep jobs flooding
14:39back to America and to protect our core national security. And that's what really matters at the
14:44end of the day. Stephen, Democrats, media types are saying the president is endangering the lives of
14:51Supreme Court justices by the language he used to describe them today. They're they should be ashamed of
14:57themselves, embarrassments. Just, you know, I don't know if he used the word disgrace, but and that
15:02that was a big topic of conversation that this is going to increase the threats against justices to that,
15:08you say. Chuck Schumer infamously stood in front of the Supreme Court and issued a direct threat to our
15:18justices. After that threat was issued, we saw assassination attempts and violence against our
15:26justices. We saw the Merrick Garland Justice Department refuse to stop and prosecute and disband
15:34the groups that were illegally demonstrating outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court
15:38justices in violation of federal law. It is against federal law to illegally demonstrate outside of the
15:45home of a judge to try to influence a ruling. It's the same group of people who have it fanned
15:51the flames
15:52of assassination all over this country. This administration under President Trump has moved
15:57heaven on earth to find the domestic extremists in this country who are trying to kidnap, murder
16:02an assassin and bring them to justice, while the left, being good communists, has done everything in
16:07their power to foment violence and foment hatred and foment unrest. You will never get a cleaner
16:12contract. You want safe streets. You want criminals behind bars. You want to support the police. You
16:17want to support law enforcement. That's President Trump. The Democrats are the party of violence.
16:22President Trump is the president of law, order and safety. Stephen, what a day. I thought it was
16:31predictable ruling by the court. I was hoping for otherwise, but it really didn't surprise me.
16:35Um, and push came to shove, but here come to 30, 302, 223, uh, 122. We're going to have a
16:42lot of
16:42tariffs coming for us. It's going to take a little bit of time. Stephen, thank you very much. And
16:47coming up the master off one Democrat reveals the party's revenge plans.
16:54Democrats pretend that they love freedom, but they only love and tolerate it when they think they can get
17:01you to vote with them. But now because they're worried they can't convince enough Americans to
17:06ditch MAGA, they're ready to end freedom and crack down on opponents. And they're telling you exactly
17:12what they plan on doing to anyone who quote, takes a knee to Trump. When it comes to the elites,
17:19you know, the, the, the corporate interests, uh, the law firms, the universities, the media,
17:24it's not going to end well for them. If these corporations think that the Democrats,
17:28uh, when they come back in power, uh, are going to, you know, play by the old rules,
17:34they've got another thing coming. There will be an accountability agenda. This is not going to be,
17:41uh, an instance of, you know, forgive and forget. Oh, retribution. By the way,
17:49is she wearing the accountability for Benghazi hoodie there? That little hoodie she was wearing?
17:55Susan Rice. Can you imagine? Here to discuss Matt Towery, political analyst and pollster,
18:00and Lisa Booth, Fox news, political analyst and Republican strategist. Um, Matt, let's start with
18:05you. So she says the accountability agenda. Now let's call it what it is. Revenge.
18:15Yeah, boy, I tell you, she's warm and fuzzy and she, she gives me a real happy feeling when I
18:20listen
18:21to her. She's a brilliant man. I don't know why in the world she's doing this. Uh, I think I
18:26have
18:27some, some thoughts about it. First of all, did you notice the we she used in that statement? Well,
18:32who is the we? Is it we, because she's going to be president or we, because she knows she's going
18:36to
18:36be part of the next democratic administration. If one ever comes along again, very odd to hear those
18:42numbers or what she said. I also think it's, it's a message they're sending out right now saying,
18:46hey, don't mess with us right now, because if you mess with us right now, we're really going to put
18:50the hammer down on folks. But the problem that does is just puts more stress on Pam Bondi, for
18:56example, from the right and from conservatives who say, well, why aren't we doing the same thing
19:00and putting everybody else in jail as well? So she's not helping her cause whatsoever.
19:05And it's a scary thing to hear from someone who really.
19:12Yeah, Lisa, I want to pick up on something Matt just said. The, the entitlement in her voice,
19:19assuming that because all of her grand success, both with Biden and earlier, I mentioned Benghazi
19:25for a reason that she's definitely going to be part of the future administration. So basically,
19:30she's saying, watch out who you work for and what you say, because we're coming for you.
19:35Yeah. I mean, talk and they call Trump a dictator.
19:39Yeah. But Laura, we've seen this movie before. This isn't an original one. This is just a dangerous
19:44sequel. We saw this for four years under the Biden administration already. And we all remember when
19:50Joe Biden took that stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in September, 2022, and declared
19:55that tens of millions of hardworking Americans, MAGA Republicans were enemies of the state,
20:00that they were threats, threats to the Republic. His regime in corporate America took notice. They
20:07understood the assignment. We saw with his regime, raided Donald Trump's home, Mar-a-Lago with something
20:13like 30 agents. And then also, you know, with corporate America as well, we saw the big tech
20:19censorship, the silencing during COVID, as well as the Hunter Biden laptop story, the debanking that
20:27happened with conservatives as well, particularly with Melania and Barron. So we have seen this movie
20:32before, Laura. So we should take heed and pay attention because this is what Democrats will do,
20:37this dangerous sequel, if and when they get power again.
20:41Yeah. And well, and it didn't work out for them. They did it, but the voters said,
20:45eh, you're out. And they put in Trump again. So I'm not, it didn't work for them. Um, Matt,
20:50do have examples of socialist, communists, whatever you want to call it, leaders,
20:56who are, who are trying out their policies and their ideas. And we're hearing a lot from
21:00Mondani and raising property taxes, et cetera. Well, even Democrats on the ground there
21:06are beginning to get fed up already. Watch.
21:28And others who weren't Democrats got up and just railed against it. Matt,
21:32this is two months in. How bad is New York going to get under Mondani?
21:37Oh, it's going to get terrible. I mean,
21:39we talked about this long before that election and it's just going to be become a disaster
21:44because you simply political struck. So he's going to have people whose money he's trying to take,
21:51who can't give anymore. And then people expect things and he doesn't have the money to provide
21:56it. I see where he's even talking about cutting the police force there to help balance his budget.
22:01Holy Moses, are they in trouble in New York?
22:04Yeah. If it's not mom, Donnie coming up with his idiotic ideas,
22:08then you have Pritzker driving companies out of Illinois, Johnson out of Chicago. The Cubs
22:15might, may very well go to Indiana. I mean, this doesn't work. I mean,
22:19it might make them feel good, but in practice, these policies, Lisa,
22:22are a disaster for regular working people.
22:25Well, and this is why Democrats are fighting deportations, mass deportations, because they need
22:32people. Well, and this is why Democrats are fighting deportations, mass deportations,
22:37because they need those illegal aliens in the United States for redistricting purposes. It's
22:42these kinds of policies in cities like New York City, and even what Virginia is now going to do under
22:48Abigail Spanberger, but are driving people away from their states into red states. And they're
22:53looking ahead at 2030 and the projections for the census there and for apportionment for the House,
22:59as well as electoral college votes. And they're looking at a loss of power, both in the House
23:02and with electoral college votes, so much so that the blue wall will no longer exist for them in the
23:08Rust Belt. So, you know, Democrats, their policies, they're going to keep doing it, doubling down on
23:13it, tripling down on it, but they're driving voters away, and they're going to lose power potentially
23:17in 2020 or 2030, rather, as a result. Matt, Lisa, both of you have a great...
23:22...is listening.
23:26This is a Fox News update. I'm Kevin Cork in Washington. President Trump warning he is
23:30considering a limited military strike on Iran to pressure its leaders into a nuclear deal. That move
23:36comes as the U.S. builds up a major military presence in the region, which includes a dozen warships
23:42and two aircraft carriers. Iran's top diplomat says a proposed deal could be ready in the next few
23:47days following recent talks. Both Tehran and Washington have signaled they're ready for war
23:52if negotiations fail. The president says he's given Iran 10 to 15 days before deciding on potential
23:58military action. Millions of people along the I-95 corridor in the northeast bracing for a powerful
24:04nor'easter bomb cyclone this weekend. Heavy snow and strong winds expected Sunday through Monday.
24:10Boston could see up to 18 inches, New York and Philly in the next few days.
24:16Kevin Cork in Washington. Now back to more of the Ingram angle.
24:26Just when you thought the Olympics could not be rescued from woke politics,
24:30the magic happened. Not only did the women's hockey team beat China's new pal,
24:35Canada for the gold medal. But American free skater Alyssa Liu won the gold in a stunning comeback.
24:43You see, once again, triple left, double axle, double toe loop.
24:54Now, if you didn't see her skate, do yourself a favor, watch the entire program.
24:59It is mesmerizing. It's unreal. But at its core, I think this story really just has embodied the
25:07American. After supporting the square protests, he was afraid for his life. So he came to California,
25:15where he studied law and eventually started his own practice. And then in his 40s, little Alyssa came
25:21along. Well, fast forward to 2022, when Alyssa was gearing up to compete in the Beijing games.
25:29Well, she and her father say they became the targets of a spying operation by the Chinese government.
25:35The media has hardly said a peep about this. No story from NBC about what China did to her and
25:41her
25:41family. I think we know why. For the same reason, NBC showered American athlete Eileen Gu with countless
25:50glowing profiles, other media outlets as well. Eileen Gu with profiles, other media outlets as well.
25:59Gu, of course, ditched America to compete for the communist Chinese. I'll take Lu over Gu any day.
26:08Here to react is Dan Dockett, host of OutKicks. Don't at me, Dan. I love this story. The gal with
26:16the kind of raccoon hair is just I've never seen anyone. And I've watched I've been watching this
26:21since I was a little girl. I've never seen anyone skate like this. This young woman. It was amazing.
26:29Weirdly, I've been watching this since I was a little boy with Peggy Fleming, the first one that I
26:33could remember through, I don't know, Dorothy Hamill and her haircut and Christy Yamaguchi. It was pure
26:39joy. It was literally and you know this. This was pure joy. She was out there. She had MacArthur Park
26:46going a crazy disco song from the 70s and the smile on her face, the happiness, the talent. And you
26:55mentioned the story, man. You know, it's amazing. And if you weren't mesmerized by her, I don't know what
27:02to tell you, because that was awesome. And it was stunning, but not surprising, I guess,
27:09that the media decides to put all of its glowing coverage on Eileen Gu. And she's a beautiful young
27:19woman, incredibly talented. But she's like, no, I'm going to skate. I'm going to compete for for China.
27:26I'm back in the US. I'm going with China. And then she's like the the belle of the ball.
27:32I saw one clip of her. And I swear, this is me. I'm wrong. She's totally unlikable. I'm sure she's
27:38not. I'm sure she's a wonderful person. But the clip that I I'm sure she's a wonderful person. But
27:45the clip that I saw of her talking about how great she is and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
27:50completely and totally unlikable. And look, you got to understand sports media in this country
27:56is the worst. They're the dumbest. They're the laziest. The worst liberal sports media. Yes,
28:01the worst. Terrible. Like I'm in the realm of sports and politics and outkick. And I always tell
28:09people, at least in politics, you know, they're going to punch you because they're on one side.
28:14Sports media in this country, the liberal sports media will bend over backwards. It's for themselves
28:20to make themselves look like I'm not down with anything Trump or I'm not down with anything
28:27conservative. It's total idiocy and good of that. And she died goo. You can have her China. My opinion.
28:37Now, it again, mesmerizing. I've never seen anyone. And I watched everyone compete over the years,
28:45skate with the fluidity and the effortlessness and pure joy that she skated with. And MacArthur
28:53Park. I don't know if she chose that song for any reason, but obviously General MacArthur said if we
28:59didn't defeat China and Korea would be essentially fighting China for decades and decades. I took it as
29:05a little nod to that, but maybe it's just a coincidence. Dan, you're one of my few favorite sports
29:12commentators out there. Indiana won the national championship. Did you know that?
29:17Did you know Indiana won the national football championship?
29:20Oh gosh, here we go. Here we go. I actually was cheering for Indiana. Sorry.
29:26I think lent and whooping in the Epstein files. Friday Follies with Raymond Arroyo is next.
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