Valerie Jarrett: Obama ‘Clearly Within His Authority’ on Gun Executive Action

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett insisted President Barack Obama’s forthcoming executive action on guns would be well within his authority and that it is the fault of Congress for the need of Obama to take action.

“Let’s be specific – the president isn’t circumventing Congress,” Jarrett said. “He’s doing what’s clearly within his authority to do. What he’s doing is well within the existing statute. He’s trying to make sure he does everything within his power to keep guns out of the wrong hands. Congress has a responsibility for acting. We welcome the opportunity to work with them to pass legislation. But they’ve made it very clear that they don’t intend to act. And so in their absence of action, we’re going to do what we can do. To be clear, Chris – the door is always open for us to engage with them and work on what we can do to make America safer.”

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