Judge Who Blocked Trump’s Spending Freeze Calls Him a ‘Tyrant,’ Decries Racism as a ‘White People Problem,’ and Advocates Packing His Court with ‘People of Color’ Because It’s ‘Too White’ in Resurfaced 2021 Footage

In a striking example of judicial activism, newly unearthed footage from 2021 exposes U.S. District Judge John McConnell for what he truly is—an Obama-appointed activist masquerading as a judge.

Judge McConnell, who recently blocked President Trump’s initiative to freeze federal spending and audaciously accused Trump of defying his court order, is exposed in a resurfaced video as he lambasts the Trump administration and pushes for identity-based sentencing and the creation of a race-obsessed committee within his court in his attempt to inject his progressive ideology into the legal system.

The interview was conducted in January 2021 and has been published on Helen Cooke’s YouTube channel.

In the footage, uncovered by Natalie Winters, co-host of Steve Bannon’s War Room, McConnell asserts that “racism is a white people problem” and advocates for special sentencing considerations based on gender identity and race.

McConnell: When you’re sentencing someone, you have to take a moment and realize that this middle-class, white, male, privileged person needs to understand the human being that comes before us. That may be a woman, may be Black, may be transgender, may be poor, may be rich, may be whatever—may have experiences that are not yours. And you have to walk in their shoes and understand that the law applies to them where they are. And then you have to apply the law accordingly.”

WATCH:

Judge John McConnell Jr. says as a “middle class, white male privileged person” he needs to “understand” criminals who are “women, black, or transgender” and that the “law applies to them where they are.” pic.twitter.com/ZT9LTI7l5y

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025

The corrupt judge also compared Trump’s first term to the era of the Civil War and Jim Crow laws, labeling Trump a “tyrant” who threatened American democracy.

McConnell: “So, why should you care? You should care because we’re the only things that stand in between an oppressive, arbitrary government and actions by individuals, or by the majority.

Oftentimes, I mean, when we saw the Jim Crow laws and whatnot, where courts stand and enforce the rule of law against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant, or what we’ve seen plenty of examples of that recently. And it enforces our values.

Our values, in a legal sense, are the Constitution. It’s for that reason, and we saw there are plenty of examples of history, and there’s plenty of examples over the last four years where it’s the courts that kept that balloon from bursting when it was challenged.

So, that’s why you should care about the courts, because, you know, it affects so many aspects of people’s lives that they don’t even know about, don’t even know.

And it affects society in such a big way. I mean, when we talk about criminal justice, we’ll talk about what effect it has on people of color in races and communities and whatnot. But, to me, that’s why the court stands so important.

They are a very different, equal branch of government that protects the values of this country against arbitrary majority rules to protect those values for everybody. Absolutely, and we do a lot of mundane, stupid, regular stuff too, besides those lofty goals of maintaining values.”

WATCH:

Judge McConnell equates President Trump’s first four years to the damage inflicted by the Civil War and Jim Crow laws.

He also compares President Trump a “tyrant.” pic.twitter.com/I0REreofkR

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025

McConnell also criticized Trump’s judicial appointments for lacking diversity, while praising Obama’s efforts and expressing hope that Biden would prioritize racial diversity.

McConnell: “President Obama had a great track record of ensuring racial diversity amongst the bench. President Trump, not so much. I don’t think he appointed a single person of color as a Court of Appeals judge and very few people to the district court.

So, I’m hoping that President Biden will prioritize racial diversity on the bench as well because if you don’t have diversity of thought, then the courts aren’t going to work right. Right? Because if we’re there to protect the minority while upholding the values of the Constitution, then it’s going to be—you know—middle class white male rule continues.”

McConnell’s claim about Trump not appointing any people of color to the Court of Appeals is blatantly false.

During his first term (2017–2021), President Donald Trump appointed several judges of color to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Notable appointments include:

• James C. Ho: Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2018, Judge Ho is of Taiwanese descent and was the first Asian American to serve on the Fifth Circuit.

• Michael H. Park: Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2019, Judge Park is Korean American.

• Neomi Rao: Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2019, Judge Rao is of Indian descent.

• Barbara Lagoa: Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 2019, Judge Lagoa is Cuban American.

President Donald Trump appointed a total of 234 Article III federal judges, including three Supreme Court justices, 54 appellate court judges, and 174 district court judges. Of these appointees, approximately 16% (37) were individuals of color, according to Pew Research.

McConnell announced that he formed a Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice Committee within his court, arguing that “racism is a white people problem” and that white individuals must address and rectify it. He highlighted the lack of diversity in his court upon his appointment.

McConnell: “We haven’t publicly announced this yet—we only have internally—but we have put together a Diversity and Inclusion and Racial Justice Committee that has three goals. One is to look internally. I don’t think we can solve this problem until, um, we look at ourselves.

But the committee has stated its mission in understanding that, in many ways, racism is a white people’s problem, and white people need to figure out how to solve it and need to do the hard work to fix it. So, we have formed the committee to look at race in our courts.

Have we given disparate sentences between black and whites? What about hiring practices—is it right? What’s the treatment process like? Have we been a welcoming, inclusive community?

The second is to look internally, actually on that issue, which is, what we are like as an employer. We’re an employer that provides a workplace, and we want to be just an inclusive place.

Third is the engagement in the community. We’re starting to figure out how we can go out into the community and engage more with the message of the rule of law and justice, particularly in underserved communities.

WATCH:

Judge McConnell also established a Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice Committee in his court.

He insists that “racism is a white people problem” and that white people need to “figure it out” and do the “hard work” to fix it. pic.twitter.com/swXyIXAm4v

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025

Judge McConnell also addressed the lack of diversity within his own court upon his arrival and took immediate steps to rectify the situation.

He revealed significant efforts to diversify the court’s staff, including the hiring of probation officers from minority backgrounds.

He highlighted the psychological impact on African-American defendants walking into a predominantly white court, calling his own court “majestic” but unrepresentative.

McConnell: “Federal court in Rhode Island is a sad example of a lack of racial diversity. We have five judicial officers: three judges and two magistrate judges, all white. We have, finally, two women. We didn’t have that for the longest time—judges, one judge and one magistrate judge. The majority of our court staff is white.

It’s a great place to work, so people don’t leave, so that’s been very hard to impact. I’ve not, you know, not—we’ve not had a new hire, I think, in many years there because people stick around. And so, we’re a sad example of it, which is why we need to put in place…

On the other hand, our probation department, which works directly with people once they get out of the criminal justice system.

When I got there, it was all white. And when we hired a new probation officer, we said, ‘This can’t be. This just cannot be any longer.’ And we immediately got four openings, just happened to be, and we filled them with people of color. And we’ve now changed the probation department.

Just think about it for a second, in that empathetic sort of way. You’re an African-American young man who is predominantly a criminal defendant, and you get walked into a court, and our court is majestic. I mean, it is.”

[…]

“I’ve never been personally subjected to racism. I mean, racism plays such a huge role in the criminal justice system, from who gets stopped to who gets arrested, who gets prosecuted, and how they get prosecuted, and how they spend time in jail and everything along that horrible road.

I’ve never experienced that, and that makes it hard—or it makes it easy to ignore, right? But it makes it hard not to when there’s no diversity, when you don’t have colleagues that you can speak to, or when you’re not diverse yourself.

And make no mistake about it, race is present every single day in the courtroom, uh, predominantly in criminal cases, but it’s present in a goodly number of the civil cases that we do as well. So, um, you know, diversity is important everywhere. It is vitally important.”

WATCH:

Judge McConnell then lamented that his Court was a bad example because it was “too white.”

He admits to exclusively hiring black people solely because they were “people of color.” pic.twitter.com/xlREBhmIZJ

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025

The judge also made controversial remarks about the influence of personal opinions in judicial decisions.

McConnell: “We fall back on a kind of stereotypical comment that judges should have no opinions, and that’s just not true. If that were the case, we would have computers run our justice system.

We would input this, and we didn’t put that, and we’d spin the wheel, and that would come the proper decision. But that’s not how justice works, nor should it work like that. I, particularly those people that know me, know I have opinions.

I have opinions about a lot of things; some are relevant, some aren’t relevant. But what makes the system work is this fidelity to the rule of law.

It sounds like a cliché, but it’s so important, and that is that you respect the fact that laws are passed according to the democratic system.

You respect the fact that the constitution contains values and protects our freedoms and protects the minority against the oppression of the majority.”

WATCH:

Judge McConnell insists that it’s okay for judges to let personal opinions influence their decisions.

“I have opinions about a lot of things…”

(He was on the Finance Committee for a Hillary Clinton Campaign, 6-figure dem donor, and Planned Parenthood Board member.) pic.twitter.com/DvvgUD0nf4

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025

John McConnell is not a judge but an activist masquerading in judicial robes; his overt political biases and actions clearly demonstrate that he needs to be impeached to preserve the integrity of our courts.

You can watch the full video below:

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