Real estate mogul and Mitt Romney surrogate Donald Trump blasted Chief Justice John Roberts for his deciding vote to uphold President Obama's signature healthcare law last week, accusing Roberts of betraying conservatives with the ruling.
"Justice Roberts wanted to be loved around the Washington establishment," Trump said Monday on Fox News. "He is a beloved man to the liberals and the Washington establishment."
Trump described the decision, which found that the healthcare bill's individual mandate could be upheld as a tax, as "a disaster" that would "crush business." He also said conservatives — including former President George W. Bush, who appointed Roberts to the court — should feel deceived.
"[Roberts] was extremely disloyal. I wonder what President Bush must have thought, having put him in this position," Trump said.
But the reality television host did laud Justice Anthony Kennedy, who led conservative opposition to the bill on the court.
"People should be proud of him. He really, really did stick up for his values," Trump said.
And Trump said he sensed Republicans were more motivated after the ruling, saying that there was noticeably more buzz at a fundraiser he attended with Romney the day the ruling was announced.
"The energy in that room was five times greater than it would have been a month ago," Trump said.
It was Trump's first time publicly addressing the fundraiser, a point of confusion last week after the Romney campaign initially indicated that it would not occur, and then refused to comment on it. Trump, however, accused the press of trying to undermine the GOP candidate.
"We had a big fundraiser that everybody said, 'Oh, they're not going to have the fundraiser'; the press said, 'The fundraiser's not going to happen, Trump's going to be embarrassed,' then all of a sudden we had a fundraiser that raised millions of dollars — it was a great success," Trump said. "It's amazing how the press can be so dishonest. They were told it was going to happen. It's amazing."
