Extract from The Guardian
President tells crowd of law enforcement officials that executive
order couldn’t ‘be written any plainer or better’, before vowing to
reduce violence in Chicago
Donald Trump has lashed out at the appeals court weighing his travel ban, telling an audience of police chiefs and sheriffs that some of the deliberations he had heard were “disgraceful”.
The president insisted that his order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations, which is currently blocked, was “done for the security of our nation” and should be respected.
The ninth US circuit court of appeals is examining the Department of Justice’s appeal for a stay on the temporary restraining order placed on the travel ban by a district court judge last week. In a hearing on Tuesday, a government lawyer faced tough questions over Trump’s campaign promise to close US borders to Muslims.
“It’s really incredible to me that we have a court case that’s going on so long,” Trump told a police conference in Washington on Wednesday. “They’re interpreting things differently than probably 100% of the people in this room.”
He quoted from the portion of the immigration law that he said gave him the power to enact the ban, calling it “beautifully written” and saying even “a bad high school student would understand this”.
The “only mistake” was that the order should have referred to the
president as “he or she”, he said, “but hopefully it won’t be for at
least another seven years”.
The president said he followed the proceedings on television, which broadcast a live audio stream of the hearing. “I watched last night in amazement and I heard things that I couldn’t believe, things that really had nothing to do with what I just read.
“I don’t ever want to call a court biased, so I won’t call it biased, and we haven’t had a decision yet, but courts seem to be so political and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do what’s right, and that has to do with the security of our country, which is so important.”
The court is made up of three judges: one appointed by former Democratic president Jimmy Carter, one by Republican George W Bush and one by Democrat Barack Obama.
Trump, a Republican, continued: “I was a good student, I understand things, I comprehend very well, OK? Better than, I think, almost anybody. And I want to tell you that I listened to a bunch of stuff last night on television that was disgraceful, it was disgraceful, because what I just read to you is what we have and it just can’t be written any plainer or better.”
The president’s executive order barred all visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days, and suspended Syrian refugees’ entry indefinitely and all other refugees’ entry for 120 days. It sparked protests and airport chaos across the country, before a temporary restraining order was issued against it by a federal judge, James Robart, on Friday.
The ninth circuit is expected to rule quickly on the motion for the stay. If they grant the stay, the executive order would go back into effect while the suit against the federal government brought by the state of Washington continues in district court. If the court declines to grant the stay, the federal government can file an emergency motion with the supreme court.
Meanwhile, the original case between Washington state and the federal government will continue in district court, where Robart is moving ahead with asking for briefs on a preliminary injunction against the executive order.
Hundreds of members of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs’ Association were in Trump’s standing room crowd on Wednesday, some in uniform. Trump told them: “You have a true, true friend in the White House. I stand with you.”
He repeated his promises to reduce violence in Chicago, where he said more than 4,000 people were shot last year (the exact figure is 3,550), and argued that “no one in America should be punished” because of their birthplace. “What is going on in Chicago?” he asked, pledging to provide resources to police departments and promising “zero tolerance” for violence against law enforcement.
Trump also pledged to work on combating drug abuse and said there should be resources to deal with a “mental health crisis”. This drew louder applause than his comments about the immigration ban case. Trump reiterated his vow to build a wall on the Mexican border, insisting: “I don’t kid.”
The president insisted that his order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations, which is currently blocked, was “done for the security of our nation” and should be respected.
The ninth US circuit court of appeals is examining the Department of Justice’s appeal for a stay on the temporary restraining order placed on the travel ban by a district court judge last week. In a hearing on Tuesday, a government lawyer faced tough questions over Trump’s campaign promise to close US borders to Muslims.
“It’s really incredible to me that we have a court case that’s going on so long,” Trump told a police conference in Washington on Wednesday. “They’re interpreting things differently than probably 100% of the people in this room.”
He quoted from the portion of the immigration law that he said gave him the power to enact the ban, calling it “beautifully written” and saying even “a bad high school student would understand this”.
The president said he followed the proceedings on television, which broadcast a live audio stream of the hearing. “I watched last night in amazement and I heard things that I couldn’t believe, things that really had nothing to do with what I just read.
“I don’t ever want to call a court biased, so I won’t call it biased, and we haven’t had a decision yet, but courts seem to be so political and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do what’s right, and that has to do with the security of our country, which is so important.”
The court is made up of three judges: one appointed by former Democratic president Jimmy Carter, one by Republican George W Bush and one by Democrat Barack Obama.
Trump, a Republican, continued: “I was a good student, I understand things, I comprehend very well, OK? Better than, I think, almost anybody. And I want to tell you that I listened to a bunch of stuff last night on television that was disgraceful, it was disgraceful, because what I just read to you is what we have and it just can’t be written any plainer or better.”
The president’s executive order barred all visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days, and suspended Syrian refugees’ entry indefinitely and all other refugees’ entry for 120 days. It sparked protests and airport chaos across the country, before a temporary restraining order was issued against it by a federal judge, James Robart, on Friday.
The ninth circuit is expected to rule quickly on the motion for the stay. If they grant the stay, the executive order would go back into effect while the suit against the federal government brought by the state of Washington continues in district court. If the court declines to grant the stay, the federal government can file an emergency motion with the supreme court.
Meanwhile, the original case between Washington state and the federal government will continue in district court, where Robart is moving ahead with asking for briefs on a preliminary injunction against the executive order.
Hundreds of members of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs’ Association were in Trump’s standing room crowd on Wednesday, some in uniform. Trump told them: “You have a true, true friend in the White House. I stand with you.”
He repeated his promises to reduce violence in Chicago, where he said more than 4,000 people were shot last year (the exact figure is 3,550), and argued that “no one in America should be punished” because of their birthplace. “What is going on in Chicago?” he asked, pledging to provide resources to police departments and promising “zero tolerance” for violence against law enforcement.
Trump also pledged to work on combating drug abuse and said there should be resources to deal with a “mental health crisis”. This drew louder applause than his comments about the immigration ban case. Trump reiterated his vow to build a wall on the Mexican border, insisting: “I don’t kid.”
No comments:
Post a Comment