Here’s a quick roundup of this afternoon’s news on President Trump’s immigration order. You might be especially interested in the last one:
- Hundreds of State Department employees have signed a “Dissent Memo” arguing that Trump’s order is disastrous for American interests. I don’t think I have to tell you Trump’s reaction to this.
- The acting attorney general, a holdover from the Obama administration, ordered the Department of Justice not to defend the order in court.
- Trump quickly fired her.
- A handful of congressional Republicans are annoyed by Trump’s insistence that he sought their input. Here’s the Washington Post: “Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Monday that he was not briefed before the order was signed….Asked whether he was consulted in the drafting of the order, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate said simply: ‘I wasn’t.’…Senior House leaders, including Ryan, did not see the text of the order until after it was signed Friday….Spokesmen for Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said the senators were not consulted about the order.”
- Democrats slowed down the confirmation hearing of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in retaliation for the immigration order.
- The LA Times reports that Steve Bannon views the immigration order as just the start. Brian Bennett and Noah Bierman say that Bannon sees himself as “launching a radical experiment to fundamentally transform how the U.S. decides who is allowed into the country and to block a generation of people who, in their view, won’t assimilate into American society.”