Donald Trump said on
Friday that he had ‘no doubt’ his administration would win its
ongoing legal challenge to reinstate a travel ban on refugees and
citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. The president was
asked about his executive order, which suffered a major setback on
Thursday, during a joint press conference with Japan’s prime
minister in Washington. ‘We are going to keep our country safe ...
Ultimately I have no doubt we’ll win that particular case,’ he
said
Trump
says he is considering 'brand new' immigration order after setback
President
says he believes he will win court fight over travel ban as confusion
reigns over whether he will appeal decision to supreme court
David Smith and Ben
Jacobs in Washington
Friday 10 February
2017 22.37 GMT
Donald Trump has
said he is considering signing a “brand new” executive order on
immigration, following the court ruling blocking his travel ban on
Thursday.
The US president
told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to Florida that he was
confident he would win his court battle over the hugely controversial
executive order suspending the country’s refugee program and
barring citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, which is
currently blocked.
But he said: “We
also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new
order.”
Asked if he meant a
new executive order, he said: “It very well could be. We need speed
for reasons of security, so it very well could be.”
Trump said that he
would probably act next Monday or Tuesday.
Asked what revisions
the new order would include, he said: “New security measures.”
He said a new order
would probably change “very little” from the first, according to
the Associated Press.
There was confusion
over whether the administration intended to take the fight to the
supreme court, following his setback in a San Francisco federal court
on Thursday.
Despite the
president claiming he would “win that [legal] battle” over the
travel ban, a White House official told Reuters the president had
decided not to go to the supreme court.
“The temporary
restraining order, we would not take to the supreme court, but we are
reviewing all options in the court system,” the official was quoted
as saying.
But minutes later
the Washington Post quoted White House chief of staff Reince Priebus
as saying the administration was “reviewing all of our options in
the court system” – including the supreme court.
The ruling by the
ninth US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco on Thursday
applies only to the question of whether district judge James Robart
in Seattle was correct in issuing a temporary restraining order
against the travel ban. Trump could choose to sidestep this fight and
concentrate on the legal proceedings over whether the travel ban is
constitutional, which will continue in Robart’s court over the next
weeks.
Separately, an
unidentified judge on the ninth circuit on Friday requested that the
court consider reconsidering the travel ban case “en banc” – or
by a full panel of 11 judges. The court’s 25 judges will vote on
the issue after both sides file briefs, which are due Thursday 16
February.
Earlier, Trump had
said he would make a fresh policy announcement next week in response
to the ruling, but gave few details about his next move in a tussle
with the judiciary that has stymied one of his first and most
controversial measures.
“We’ll be doing
something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our
country,” Trump told a joint press conference with the Japanese
prime minister, Shinzo Abe. “You’ll see something next week.”
Trump suffered a
major setback on Thursday when a US appeals court refused to
reinstate a temporary travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven
Muslim-majority countries.
Speaking at the
White House, the president insisted: “We are going to keep our
country safe, we are going to do whatever is necessary to keep our
country safe. We had a decision which we think we are going to be
very successful with, it shouldn’t take too much time ...
Ultimately I have no doubt we’ll win that particular case.”
He added: “There
are tremendous threats to our country. We will not allow that to
happen. We will continue to do things to make our country safe. We
will not allow people into our country who are looking to do harm to
our people.”
Trump’s 27 January
executive order barred people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan,
Syria and Yemen from entering for 90 days and barred all refugees for
120 days. Refugees from Syria were banned indefinitely. It triggered
disarray at airports and widespread protests.
On Thursday, a
three-judge panel of the ninth US circuit court of appeals in San
Francisco upheld a lower court’s suspension of his ban. Trump
responded swiftly on Twitter with a message in block capitals that
said: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”
His defeated
election opponent, Hillary Clinton, also responded to the court
ruling, with a tweet that simply read: “3-0” – presumably a
reference either to the three judges’ unanimous verdict or three
consecutive rulings against the ban.
Democrats welcomed
the verdict as a triumph for America’s democratic checks and
balances. Joe Crowley, leader of the House Democratic caucus, said:
“This is a major, major, major defeat for the administration. And I
think there will be more, because they will continue to overstep.”
Addressing Trump’s
angry tweet, Crowley said: “The president needs to grow up.”
On Friday, Trump
used Twitter to complain: “LAWFARE: ‘Remarkably, in the entire
opinion, the panel did not bother even to cite this (the) statute.’
A disgraceful decision!”
He was quoting a
post by Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of the Lawfare blog, that
was critical of the appeal court’s reasoning, though it said it had
made the right decision overall. Wittes later tweeted: “For the
record, I support the decision.”
The president seems
likely to take the battle all the way to the supreme court but he is
also fending off more than a dozen additional lawsuits now moving
through the courts. Lawyers for the state of Virginia are mounting
one of the challenges, arguing that the ban violates the constitution
and results from “animus toward Muslims”.
Michael Kelly, a
spokesman for the Virginia attorney general, Mark Herring, said
Friday’s hearing in a federal court posed the most significant
state challenge yet to Trump’s order. In a statement, he said it
“will be the most in-depth examination of the merits of the
arguments against the ban”.
The district court
in Washington state – the court where the temporary restraining
order was issued – will continue to consider the original complaint
of irreparable harm brought by the attorney general in the coming
weeks and months. The process could result in a ruling “on the
merits” of Trump’s travel ban, which would involve a detailed
legal evaluation of the constitutional and statutory arguments in
play.
Abe was the only
world leader to meet Trump before his inauguration – at Trump Tower
in New York – and is the second, after Theresa May, to do so since
the president took office. The meeting was seen as an opportunity to
shore up US-Japanese relations after Trump withdrew from the Trans
Pacific Partnership (TPP), a flagship trade deal created by Barack
Obama.
Abe said: “On TPP,
of course we are fully aware of President Trump’s decision. On
economic issues, we will be discussing at the working lunch to
follow. As for Japan and the United States, trade and investment as
well as economic relations, how can we develop and grow our
relationship?”
The prime minister
said “a new framework for dialogue” was already being developed.
“And I am quite optimistic that the good results will be seen from
the dialogue. Now, to make sure it is a free and fair common set of
rules to be created for the free trade regime in the region, and that
was the purpose of TPP, and that importance has not changed.”
Both leaders were
keen to stress their warm relationship. “I grabbed him and hugged
him because that’s the way we feel,” Trump said. “We have a
very good bond, a very good chemistry.”
Then, at a press
conference in the east room, Trump welcomed Abe to the “very famous
White House”. He promised joint cooperation, including “against
the North Korean missile and nuclear threat, both of which I consider
a very, very high priority”, and on a free and fair trade
relationship.
Abe, on a charm
offensive, refrained from criticising Trump over the TPP. He hailed
the US as a “champion of democracy” and Trump as “an excellent
businessman” who had learned political skills during last year’s
election campaign.
Although he nodded
along and seemed to be listening intently, Trump was not wearing a
translation earpiece during Abe’s remarks. Asked if Trump had worn
an earpiece, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House deputy press
secretary, said: “I don’t believe during that time. But he did
see the text and they spoke quite extensively before the remarks.”
Trump did put a small speaker to his right ear during the question
and answer session.
On Saturday, Trump
will host Abe and his wife at his luxury Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.
The two leaders are scheduled to play golf on Saturday. A White House
official said Trump was paying for Abe and his wife to travel to
Mar-a-Lago as a “gift” – sidestepping ethical concerns that his
properties might profit from a foreign visitor.
Abe said modestly:
“My score in golf is not up to the level of Donald at all.”
At the press
conference Trump took only two questions from western media outlets:
the New York Post and Fox Business Network, both owned by Rupert
Murdoch, who has been supportive of his campaign and administration.
There was no opportunity during the short question-and-answer session
for reporters from other organisations to ask about the controversies
swirling around Trump’s aides Kellyanne Conway and Michael Flynn.
While Conway, who is
counsellor to the president, was rebuked by the White House on
Thursday after she appeared on television urging the public to buy
the branded products of the president’s daughter Ivanka, the
allegations against Trump’s national security adviser, Michael
Flynn, are potentially far more serious, with reports claiming that
he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington
before taking office, contrary to his earlier adamant denials.
The report in the
Washington Post contradicted Flynn’s assertion on Wednesday that he
never discussed the topic with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak
during a series of phone calls in December, while Obama was still
president.
On Friday, Flynn’s
staff at the national security council said he could no longer be
sure whether sanctions had been discussed.
Democrat Adam
Schiff, ranking member of the House permanent select committee on
intelligence, said: “The allegation that General Flynn, while
President Obama was still in office, secretly discussed with Russia’s
ambassador ways to undermine the sanctions levied against Russia for
its interference in the Presidential election on Donald Trump’s
behalf, raises serious questions of legality and fitness for office.
“If he did so, and
then he and other Administration officials misled the American
people, his conduct would be all the more pernicious, and he should
no longer serve in this Administration or any other.”
Late on Thursday,
Trump reaffirmed Washington’s longstanding “one China” policy
in a call with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. The move looked set
to ease tensions with China after earlier concerns that Trump might
use Taiwan – a democratically ruled island that Beijing considers a
breakaway province – as leverage in negotiations over trade,
security and other issues.
At his White House
press conference, Trump said of the call with Xi: “It was a very
warm conversation. I think we are on the process of getting along
very well. That will also be of benefit to Japan. We discussed a lot
of subjects; it was a long talk.”
The president’s
cabinet picks also continue to face resistance. Protesters blocked
the new education secretary, Betsy DeVos, when she tried to enter a
Washington school on Friday morning. One demonstrator stood in front
of the stairway entrance in the school, prompting DeVos to walk back
to her vehicle, though she eventually entered the building.
The Senate voted
along party lines early on Friday to confirm Tom Price, a
conservative Georgia congressman and harsh critic of Obama’s
signature healthcare reform, as health secretary. Trump had vowed to
repeal and replace “Obamacare” immediately but has since admitted
the process is complicated and may take time.
The Democratic
senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, speaking at a Washington Post
forum, said that on inauguration day, he felt the odds were 80-20
that the Affordable Care Act would get repealed. “Now I’m not
sure it’s even 50-50.” Democrats were willing to work with
Republicans on various fixes and improvements, he added.
Additional reporting
by Julia Carrie Wong
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