Trump Launches Early Morning Muslim Travel Ban Twitter Tantrum

President Lies to American People in a Tweet

On the very day Department of Justice attorneys are to submit briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court detailing why President Donald Trump’s revised Muslim travel ban is needed and should be unblocked so it can go into effect, President Donald Trump launched an early morning Twitter tantrum calling it “the watered down Travel Ban.” He also denigrated his own Justice Dept., and lied about the action his administration has taken.

“People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” President Trump tweeted at 6:25 AM Monday morning, adding, “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.,” referring to the Supreme Court.

“The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court – & seek much tougher version!” he continued, apparently unaware how the justice system and the courts work. 

And then, the President of the United States flat-out lied.

“In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!”

To explain just how false that last statement is, some quick background: On January 27, President Trump signed his first Muslim travel ban, the one Rudy Giuliani said he was tasked with crafting to make it look like it wasn’t a ban against any particular religious group, i.e., Muslims. The courts quickly blocked it. The administration took its time but on March 6 (photo above) Trump signed what he today called “the watered down Travel Ban.” The courts quickly blocked it too.

Now, the travel bans both effectively called for banning Muslims from first seven, then six majority-Muslim nations, for a period of 90 days, to give the administration time to develop what Trump during his campaign called “extreme vetting.” 

But as The Washington Post reported Sunday, the Justice Dept. says point-blank that for whatever reason (there is none) they have not been developing a better way to vet or check on people entering the U.S. In other words, they’re not even trying to create Trump’s “extreme vetting.”

“We have put our pens down,” acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall told the told the 4th Circuit last month, when questioned about work on new procedures during a separate hearing about the travel ban. Wall said the administration has “done nothing to review the vetting procedures for these countries.”

So Trump’s own acting Solicitor General fully admits the administration isn’t doing anything different to keep America safe.

And Trump just lied to the American people.

It’s important to note Trump’s tweets are statements by the President of the United States. They don’t carry any less weight just because they’re on Twitter. 

Here is an ACLU attorney pointing out the President also just made his own DOJ appear to be falsly representing the President’s intentions:

And another ACLU attorney:

You can be sure they will use this in their briefs today to the Supreme Court.

And here’s Eric Holder’s former DOJ spokesperson:

Some responses from intelligence experts and journalists who have been reporting on the ban:

A Harvard professor:

CNBC and NY Times reporter:

More:

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