Donald Trump wouldn't say whether he agrees with the Supreme Court ruling upholding a new Texas heartbeat law that bans abortion after six weeks – or when a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
In his first on-camera interview since leaving office, Trump said the ruling is likely temporary.
'I know that the ruling was very complex and also probably temporary,' the former president told Sharyl Attkisson in an interview taped Saturday in Bedminster, New Jersey. 'I think other things will happen and that will be the big deal and the big picture.'
The full interview will air next Sunday, September 12 on Full Measure.
When asked if he supported the new ruling, Trump dodged the question – instead taking credit for a series of conservative rulings due to his appointment of three Supreme Court justices during his four years in office.
'Both sides seem to agree that this ruling is largely your doing based on the Supreme Court picks that you made. Do you agree with the ruling?' Attkisson asked.
'Well, I will tell you this: We do have a Supreme Court that's a lot different than it was before, it was acting very strangely. And I think, probably not in the interests of our country,' Trump said.
Of the new law, the former president said: 'I'm studying it right now.'
Former President Donald Trump wouldn't say in an interview taped Saturday whether he agrees with the Supreme Court allowing a new Texas abortion bill to become law
Trump told Full Measure host Sharyl Attkisson (right) that the ruling is 'very complex and also probably temporary'
The Texas law has received a slew of criticism from progressive and pro-choice activists and has been lauded by the pro-life community.
Progressive lawmakers even proposed a bill last week limiting the terms of Supreme Court justices in response to the ruling and the Senate launched a probe into the most restrictive law on abortions yet to be upheld.
Trump's comments to Attkisson was his first reaction to the Supreme Court's decision last week to not stop new controversial abortion restrictions in Texas from becoming law.
'We'll see what would happen,' the former president said in a clip of the interview. 'But we're sending the ruling and we're studying also what they've done in Texas.'
'But we have great confidence in the governor and the attorney general and the lieutenant governor,' he added. 'There are a lot of great people in Texas and we have a lot of fans and a lot of support in Texas.'
Trump previewed: 'So we'll be announcing something over the next week or two weeks.'
The new law in Texas is the most restrictive abortion law and relys on private citizens to sue providers if they do terminate a pregnancy past when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which falls around six weeks after conception.
In the frame of unplanned pregnancies, many women are still unaware they are pregnant by the six week mark.
The ruling immediately led to a divide as progressives said this was proof a conservative majority Supreme Court would lead to reversals in abortion rights
President Joe Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain said the administration is 'looking for legal remedies to protect women who are seeking' to get an abortion in Texas after six weeks into their pregnancy.
When asked if there isn't a lot that the White House can do, Klain told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash: 'I hope that's not the reality.'
'We have the best lawyers at the Justice Department looking for legal remedies to protect women who are seeking to exercise their constitutional rights,' he continued. 'We have the team at HHS looking at what means we can do to try to get women the health care services they need in the face of this Texas law. And we have the Gender Policy Council here at the White House, the first time a president's ever had a policy council devoted to gender issues, coordinating all this work to bring options forward for the president and the vice president to look at.'
'So, you think it's possible that you can do something at the federal level?' Bash pushed.
'We are going to find ways, if they're at all possible – and I think they are possible,' he said. 'We are going to find ways to make a difference for the women of Texas to try to protect their constitutional rights, yes.'
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