Bret Baier: Obama’s Past Statements On Illegality Of Executive Amnesty ‘Pretty Devastating’ [VIDEO]

Following the announcement of President Obama’s plans to announce executive action Thursday night, “Special Report” host Bret Baier took aim at Obama’s past comments on unilateral immigration action, calling them “pretty devastating.”

Baier made the remarks to “Happening Now” co-host Jon Scott Wednesday afternoon.

“Those clips are pretty devastating when you look at how many times he talked about how he couldn’t do when he is getting ready to do,” said the Fox News anchor. “The White House says that the dynamic changed after the Senate passed the comprehensive bill and it sat there and the House did not act on it.”

“They say president is pushing for action. That if the House passes the Senate bill or they move forward on some piece of legislation, that the executive action that he’s going to announce would be torn up and thrown aside,” said Baier. “Whether that happens is really a long shot.”

Baier was referring to a 2011 Univision town hall, a February 2013 Google Hangout and a September 2013 interview with Telemundo’s Jose Diaz-Balart:

March 28, 2011: Univision Town Hall

“Well, I think it is important to remind everybody that, as I said I think previously, and I’m not a king. I am the head of the executive branch of government. I’m required to follow the law. And that’s what we’ve done. But what I’ve also said is, let’s make sure that we’re applying the law in a way that takes into account people’s humanity. That’s the reason that we moved forward on deferred action. Within the confines of the law we said, we have some discretion in terms of how we apply this law. The same is true with respect to the kinds of the length of time that people have to spend outside of the country when their spouses are already here for example.”

Feb. 14, 2013: Google Hangout

“The problem is that you know I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed, and Congress right now has not changed what I consider to be a broken immigration system. And what that means is that we have certain obligations to enforce the laws that are in place, even if we think that in many cases the results may be tragic. And what we have been able to do is to make sure that we’re focusing our enforcement resources on criminals — as opposed to somebody who’s here, just trying to work and look after their families.”

“What we have tried to do is administratively reduce the burdens and hardships on families being separated. And what we’ve done, obviously, is pass the deferred action which made sure that the dream, uh, uh dreamers, young people who were brought here and think of themselves as Americans, are American except for their papers, that they’re not deported. Having said all that, we’ve got to stretch our administrative flexibility as much as we can. And that’s why making sure we get comprehensive immigration reform done is so important.”

Sept. 17, 2013: Interview with Telemundo’s Jose Diaz-Balart

“Here’s the problem that I have, Jose, and I have said this consistently. My job in the executive branch is to carry out the laws that are passed. Congress has said, here’s the law when it comes to those who are undocumented, and they allocate a whole bunch of money for enforcement. What I have been able to do is make a legal argument that I think is absolutely right, which is that given the resources we have, we can’t do everything that Congress has asked us to do, what we can do is then carve out the DREAM Act folks.”

“But if we start broadening that, then essentially, I would be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally. So that’s not an option. I do get a little worried that advocates of immigration reform start losing heart and immediately thinking, well, somehow there’s an out here — that if Congress doesn’t act, we will just have the president sign something and that will take care of it, and we won’t have to worry about it. What I have said is that there is a path to get this done and that is through Congress.”