The Daily Populous Monday June 24th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by newsweek.com and submitted by newsweek

Republican North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was fact-checked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins during an interview on Sunday about his accusation that President Joe Biden is using executive orders more than other presidents, and countered his claim that the Democratic incumbent is a "dictator."

While filling in for hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, Collins confronted Burgum on CNN's State of the Union, with multiple clips of the governor claiming that Biden is a dictator. In one of the clips, Burgum says, "This is what's happening under Joe Biden. We're actually living under a dictatorship today."

Biden's political rival, former President Donald Trump—the presumptive GOP presidential nominee—has been criticized for parroting Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler and has been accused of being a threat to democracy if he wins in November. His critics claim that if he gets to the Oval Office, he won't leave when his term is up, citing Trump's refusal to accept Biden's 2020 election victory.

"I understand you don't like President Biden's policies on immigration or student loans, but respectfully, you're calling the democratically elected president a dictator?" Collins asked Burgum.

Burgum, a Trump ally who has been floated as his potential running mate, responded: "We've got three branches of government and this president, more like any other, has bypassed Congress. Because as a governor of a natural resources state...we're facing over 30 rules and mandates, each one of those could be 800 pages to 1400 pages long."

He continued: "On the student loan thing, when the Supreme Court ruled against him, then he just said, 'Hey, we'll figure a different way to do it.' I just think that there's again, a double standard here. He is bypassing the other two branches of government to push an ideological view whether it's on economics or whether it's on climate extremism."

Burgum hit on two of Biden's big agenda items: cancelling student loan debt and promoting clean energy. On his first day in office, Biden ordered federal agencies to reinstate or strengthen over 100 environmental regulations that Trump rolled back.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced last month that the Biden administration had approved $167 billion in student loan forgiveness for over 4 million Americans over a period of time after the Supreme Court struck down Biden's original plan in June 2023 to forgive about $430 billion of federal student loan debt.

Newsweek has reached out to Burgum's office via online form and Trump's spokesperson, Steven Cheung, via email for comment. It also reached out to the White House via email for comment.

When reached for comment on Sunday afternoon, Biden's campaign referred Newsweek to Alex Floyd, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), who said via email: "Doug Burgum is sucking up to a convicted felon who has threatened a 'bloodbath' if he loses, called to 'terminate' the Constitution, and pledged to be a dictator on 'Day One.'

"Donald Trump is running on an extreme anti-democracy agenda—and the only reason Burgum is able to spew lies like this is because of our country's basic rights and democratic institutions that Trump is putting at risk."

Trump said the "bloodbath" comment during a rally in Dayton, Ohio, in March when he was talking about the potential loss of U.S. auto manufacturing jobs with another Biden term. "If you actually watch and listen to the section, he was talking about the auto industry and tariffs," Cheung previously said about the matter.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum visits Fox Business Network Studios on June 13 in New York City. Burgum was fact-checked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins during an interview on Sunday about his accusation that President Joe... North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum visits Fox Business Network Studios on June 13 in New York City. Burgum was fact-checked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins during an interview on Sunday about his accusation that President Joe Biden is using executive orders more than other presidents, and countered his claim that the Democratic incumbent is a "dictator." More Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

During the interview, Collins probed Burgum and said, "You don't like his executive orders and you don't like his policies. I understand that. I don't think anyone expects the Republican governor to agree with President Biden on that. But it's not a dictatorship."

The governor then responded: "There's been a non-stop media attack on [former] President Trump saying that he might use executive orders when he takes office. I was trying to make the point here that under this current administration, most of the changes that are driving inflation in our country, the stuff [Biden's] not doing on the border, which he could be doing with executive orders—I mean the open borders and the inflation are things that he's doing by himself alone, ignoring the other branches of government."

Collins pushed back, pointing out that Trump had actually signed more executive orders than Biden. She also said that Biden's recent executive action related to immigration came after the urging of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson.

"Well, I counted, Trump signed 220 executive orders when he was in office, President Biden so far has only assigned 139, the same time span. And on executive action on immigration, it was Speaker Mike Johnson, who was calling on President Biden to take executive action saying it wasn't Congress' responsibility was his," the CNN host said.

According to the Federal Register, an official journal of the U.S. government, Biden has signed 139 executive orders so far, while Trump signed 220 during his tenure. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama signed 277 executive orders and former President George W. Bush signed 291.

Last December, Johnson sent a letter to Biden urging him to take several executive actions to curb the influx of illegal migrant crossings at the southern border, which included ending catch-and-release—a term used to describe the practice of releasing migrants into the U.S. while they await immigration hearings.

Amid growing concerns about border security, and after Congress failed to pass legislation on the matter, Biden signed an executive order earlier this month that halts asylum requests if the number of illegal migrant crossings surpasses 2,500 per day over a seven-day average. The measure went into effect immediately.

Meanwhile, during a town hall event hosted by Fox News host Sean Hannity in December, Hannity pressed Trump to pledge that he would never "abuse power as retribution against anybody," as had been suggested previously, if he's reelected. In response, Trump suggested that he would only behave in such a way on the first day of his hypothetical second term.

"Except for day one," the former president said. "No, no, no, other than day one. We're closing the border and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator." His drilling comment was a reference to his vow to expand oil drilling in the United States. He later said that the comments were in a "joking manner."

Cheung previously told Newsweek, "As President Trump has said, the best revenge is the success and prosperity of all Americans."

Update 6/23/24, 3:13 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Floyd.

spot-da-bot on June 24th, 2024 at 09:40 UTC »

This guy lies and says Biden is a dictator who has used more executive orders than anyone in history.

According to the Federal Register, an official journal of the U.S. government, Biden has signed 139 executive orders so far, while Trump signed 220 during his tenure. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama signed 277 executive orders and former President George W. Bush signed 291

These people lie because they know their voters are idiots who don't care they are being bullshitted.

ButtEatingContest on June 24th, 2024 at 08:56 UTC »

This is the guy likely trying to buy his way into the vice presidency. Trump needs money, and may not live for many more years.

So we'd have a creepy Republican tech rich guy, one heartbeat away from being head dictator.

ceddya on June 24th, 2024 at 07:57 UTC »

> "We've got three branches of government and this president, more like any other, has bypassed Congress.

Biden only had to issue an EO on the border because Republicans in Congress refused to vote for a border bill, one which gave them what they wanted, because Trump asked them not to. Maybe Republicans in Congress should start doing their job then.

And to no one's surprise, he refuses to acknowledge how Trump issued far more EOs, let alone criticize that.

> He continued: "On the student loan thing, when the Supreme Court ruled against him, then he just said, 'Hey, we'll figure a different way to do it.' I just think that there's again, a double standard here.

So Biden's been working hard to find other ways to forgive student loans once his initial plan got struck down... and that's actually what a good President does.

> and promoting clean energy. On his first day in office, Biden ordered federal agencies to reinstate or strengthen over 100 environmental regulations that Trump rolled back.

Trump rolled those back via EO, and he's mad at Biden for reversing those? Cue hypocrisy.