After weeks of silence to Trump’s rants against the judiciary, Roberts was likely provoked on Tuesday by a heated post referring to a federal judge currently handling a migrant deportation case as “crooked.” Trump declared the judge “should be IMPEACHED!!!”

Trump's post escalated his conflict with a judiciary that's been one of the few restraints on his administration's aggressive agenda.

The rare public statement came after the president called for removal of a judge who sought to temporarily block some deportations.