Summary
Here’s a roundup of the latest developments:
- Donald Trump shows no sign of backing down in the row over his decision to impose a travel ban on seven Muslim majority countries. In his latest tweets he mocked Democratic party opposition to the ban, and urged Congress to approve more of his cabinet nominations.
- On Monday night Trump fired Sally Yates, the acting attorney general after she advised justice department lawyers not to defend a travel ban she considered to be “not lawful”. In an extraordinary statement announcing her dismissal, the White House said Yates had “betrayed the department of justice”.
- Yates was immediately replaced by Dana Boente, whose first act was to undo her last act. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, said news of Yates’ sacking was “chilling”.
- European Union President Donald Tusk has warned European leaders about Trump’s “worrying declarations”. In a letter to EU leaders Tusk included the new man in the White House as one of the threats to the geopolitical outlook.
- Lord Ricketts, the former Foreign Office permanent secretary, has called for a delay of up to three years on Trump’s planned state visit to the UK, to save the Queen embarrassment. He said: “If you did it two or three years into the Trump presidency the controversial early policy announcements would have been out of the way.”
- The UN’s refugee agency says 800 refugees will be denied entry to USA this week and 20,000 people will be left in precarious circumstances by the ban. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he is “deeply worried by the uncertainty facing thousands of refugees” because of the ban.
- Thousands of people gathered across the UK to protest against Trump’s travel ban and his planned UK state visit. About 10,000 people were thought to have marched on Downing Street in London.
- 20 February was set as the date for MPs to debate a petition against Trump’s visit that has garnered 1.6m signatures.
- MPs unanimously passed a motion condemning the “discriminatory, divisive and counterproductive” travel ban. The emergency debate was called by former Labour leader Ed Miliband and Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Baghdad and risked being banned from the US.
- Former president Barack Obama has spoken out against Trump’s travel ban. Obama’s spokesman, Kevin Lewis, said: “Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organise and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.”
Updated
MPs to hold debate on 20 February on Trump state visit
MPs will next month debate whether Donald Trump should be allowed to make a state visit to Britain, after a petition calling for the trip to be downgraded gained the support of more than 1.6 million people.
The Westminster Hall debate on 20 February will also consider a rival petition in support of Trump’s state visit, which has more than 114,000 signatures, the Petitions Committee said.
Updated
The firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates is one of doubtless many crisis points that will show us just how robust American democracy really is, argues Mary Dejevsky.
While it exposes some of the weakness of the US system, it also highlights some of its strengths. There are real constraints on presidential power; a US president cannot rule by decree.
But each president is free to test those limits. And the people, by choosing to protest or acquiesce, have a role, too. Trump is forcing the United States to define itself; to decide anew what is acceptable and what not. That feels dangerous. But it also feels exhilarating, and it is not necessarily a bad thing.
Jennifer Rankin in Brussels has more on Tusk’s concerns about Trump.
One of the EU’s top leaders has criticised Donald Trump for his “worrying declarations” and said the new administration in Washington is contributing to the dangers facing Europe.
Donald Tusk, the head of the European council, said the “worrying declarations by the new American administration... make our future highly unpredictable”.
In a letter to EU leaders [pdf], he included the new man in the White House with a threatening geopolitical outlook that also includes an “assertive China”, “aggressive Russia”, radical Islam and “wars, terror and anarchy in the Middle East and Africa”.
The former Polish president said Europe had never faced such threats since six countries embarked on the integration project sixty years ago, by signing a declaration in the Italian capital. “The challenges currently facing the European Union are more dangerous than ever before in the time since the signature of the Treaty of Rome.”
As well as a new and unpredictable world order, Tusk listed two other challenges: a rise in anti-EU sentiment and the “state of mind of the pro-European elites”. In a striking passage he blamed elites for “a decline of faith in political integration, submission to populist arguments as well as doubt in the fundamental values of liberal democracy”.
Tusk was writing to 27 EU leaders - excluding Britain’s Theresa May - ahead of a summit in Valletta on Friday to debate the future, as the EU prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of its founding in Rome at the end of March. The British prime minister will be in the Maltese capital to take part in discussions on the migration crisis on Friday, but is not invited to a second session on the future of the EU.
Tusk urged the EU to show it was united at the Rome anniversary summit, which falls just days before the deadline May has imposed on herself for triggering Britain’s EU exit process.
The letter from Tusk appeared to be a response to Trump rather than Brexit, but arguably he had a message for both US critics of EU integration and Brexiters dreaming of taking back control. “It must be made crystal clear that the disintegration of the European Union will not lead to the restoration of some mythical, full sovereignty of its member states, but to their real and factual dependence on the great superpowers: the United States, Russia and China,” he wrote. “Only together can we be fully independent”.
Former MEP Glenys Kinnock has just tweeted a Trump demo selfie featuring her husband Neil, the former Labour leader, and the actor Michael Kashman.
Great to see @mcashmanCBE with Glenys and Neil Kinnock protesting tonight at Downing Street #muslimbanprotest #standuptotrump pic.twitter.com/htjWgoyyfu
— Glenys Kinnock (@GlenysKinnock) January 31, 2017
Prince Charles has made another veiled pop at Trump.
Security officials out of the loop on travel ban
Yates’s defiance over the travel ban has highlighted Trump’s tenuous relationship with his own national security advisers, officials have told the AP.
At least three top national security officials — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Rex Tillerson, who is awaiting confirmation to lead the State Department — have told associates they were not aware of details of the directive until around the time Trump signed it. Leading intelligence officials were also left largely in the dark, according to US officials.
Mattis, who stood next to Trump during Friday’s signing ceremony, is said to be particularly incensed. A senior US official said Mattis, along with Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford, was aware of the general concept of Trump’s order but not the details. Tillerson has told the president’s political advisers that he was baffled over not being consulted on the substance of the order.
US officials and others with knowledge of the Cabinet’s thinking insisted on anonymity in order to disclose the officials’ private views.
Despite his public defense of the policy, the president has privately acknowledged flaws in the rollout, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking.
Homeland Security, the agency tasked with implementing much of the refugee ban, clarified that customs and border agents should allow legal residents to enter the country. The Pentagon was trying to exempt Iraqis who worked alongside the U.S. and coalition forces from the 90-day ban on entry from the predominantly Muslim countries.
“There are a number of people in Iraq who have worked for us in a partnership role, whether fighting alongside us or working as translators, often doing so at great peril to themselves,” said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
Updated
Tusk warns of Trump’s ‘worrying declarations’
European Union President Donald Tusk has warned European leaders about Trump’s “worrying declarations.”
In a letter to 27 EU leaders [pdf], Tusk mentioned the Trump administration as part of an external “threat” together with China, Russia, radical Islam, war and terror. The letter was not sent to Britain as it embarks on the process of leaving the EU.
Tusk said those global challenges, “as well as worrying declarations by the new American administration, all make our future highly unpredictable.”
He said that “particularly the change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy.”
Updated
The row over Trump’s state visit highlights the irrelevance and impotence of the Queen, according to campaigners for an elected head of state.
Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, said:
“The Queen should be embarrassed by the Trump visit - she is unable and unwilling to speak out against the Muslim ban. The state visit highlights just how impotent and irrelevant she is.”
“The Queen serves no practical purpose as head of state. She does as she’s told by the prime minister and stays silent at times of crisis.”
“Right now we could do with an elected, effective head of state who is independent from the PM. Someone who can represent and articulate the feelings of millions of British people.”
“An effective head of state would condemn the Muslim ban, and refuse the government’s request for a state visit. Britain’s head of state simply does the bidding of the PM, no questions asked.”
“People will say the Queen is required by the constitution to stay mute. But that’s exactly why we need a new constitution and a new head of state.”
Theresa May’s hasty decision to invite Trump on a state visit was partly prompted by a desire to out manoeuvre Nigel Farage, writes Patrick Wintour.
The government had been blindsided by Trump’s victory, and Farage, the eternal thorn in the side of the Conservative leadership, was taunting the Foreign Office about his proximity to Trump and his chief strategist, Steve Bannon.
The photograph of Farage beaming in the gilded Trump Towers was a humiliation for British officials, as was his one-hour meeting with Trump, which made him the first British politician to meet the president-elect ...
A source who has discussed the invitation with a cabinet minister said: “The government has decided that their secret weapon to get in with Trump is to offer him an early visit to the Queen, him and [his wife] Melania staying at Windsor Castle.”
Another cabinet source said: “The Queen is the key here. She’s not a secret weapon, she’s the biggest public weapon you have. Nigel Faragecan’t get [Trump] in front of the Queen.”
The invitation looks like a mistaken act of over-compensation, an effort to make sure the UK, an early backmarker, reverted to its traditional position of primus inter pares, the Special One. Since it was leaving EU, the UK simply could not afford to lose traction in Washington, and with so much flux in Trump’s thinking, Downing Street decided to throw everything it had at its disposal to retain influence with the Republicans.
Here’s a gallery of anti-Trump placards from last night’s demo:
Updated
The petition backing the planned state visit by Trump has just topped 100,000.
The anti visit petition has more than 1.66 million signatories.
The planned state visit to Britain by Trump is months away and any programme has yet to be worked out, a Downing Street spokeswomman told Reuters. It quoted her saying:
“The prime minister set out very clearly last night ... (that) the invitation has been extended. She was happy to do that. She looks forward to hosting the president and that will be a state visit this year.”
“On the programme for the state visit, that will all need to be worked out in due course ... It is months away.”
No word on whether the visit will be delayed as suggested by Lord Ricketts, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office.
Donald Trump’s top trade adviser has accused Germany of using a “grossly undervalued” euro to exploit the US and its EU partners, the FT reports.
Peter Navarro, the head of Trump’s new National Trade Council, also accused Germany of being a major hurdle to a trade deal between the US and Europe.
He is quoted as saying:
A big obstacle to viewing TTIP [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership] as a bilateral deal is Germany, which continues to exploit other countries in the EU as well as the US with an ‘implicit Deutsche Mark’ that is grossly undervalued.
Before he entered office, Trump called Angela Merkel’s open door policy to refugees a “catastrophic mistake”, while Germany has expressed regret over the travel ban.
Irish prime minister Enda Kenny today has ordered a complete review of the US Homeland Security controlled “pre-clearance” at Ireland’s two main airports in response to growing opposition in the Republic to the Trump travel ban.
Ireland is one of only six countries that allows American Homeland Security officials to vet travellers before they fly out to the United States.
The taoiseach said:
In respect of the policy introduced by the American government I disagree with. I will obviously say that to the president and vice president when I meet with them...
I have asked for a complete review now of the pre-clearance facilities here in Ireland in respect of the three departments dealing with this. So we can be absolutely clear about the importance of it.
Last night the Irish Department of Transport confirmed that one traveller was turned away at the gate to transatlantic flights in Dublin Airport.
Kenny will face calls today in cabinet from independent deputies who serve in his coalition government to suspend Homeland Security’s right to screen transatlantic passengers at Dublin and Shannon Airport until the Trump ban is lifted.
The children’s minister, Katherine Zappone, has written to the taoiseach ahead of the cabinet meeting in Dublin later on Tuesday warning Kenny that the travel ban may be unlawful to operate at Irish airports.
Zappone said that the US-Ireland pre-clearance agreement upholds the rights of people under Irish law. At present any traveller booked on a flight to the United States from Ireland is processed through US immigration in Dublin or Shannon before they board their flight or arrive in the United States.
Updated
British bishops have have decried the travel ban as un-Christian:
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said:
It is extraordinary that any civilised country should stigmatise and ban citizens of other nations in the matter of providing humanitarian protection. There is a valid question as to whether Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East have so far had adequate access to such protection. However a blanket ban on any individual group is bound to undermine the fundamental principles of asylum. In Christ, we are called to welcome the stranger especially when in desperate need.
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Paul Bayes, said:
I am deeply disappointed by this way of governing. Signing executive orders of this nature is an unseemly way for the leader of the free world to conduct his nation’s business. The US will not be made safer if hurting and displaced people are ignored or rejected. As a Christian I find it impossible to square this behaviour with the values of the Gospel. I urge President Trump’s administration to follow Christ’s example and to welcome the stranger.
Updated
If the planned state visit does ahead the Queen won’t say a word against Trump. But contrast her neutral stance with her opposition number in Belgium.
King Philip delivered an outspoken attack on both Brexit and Trump’s election in his annual address, De Standaard reports.
Without mentioning either country by name, the prince said that the US and Britain have decided to focus mainly on their own policies.
“This is contrary to their tradition of openness and generosity,” said King Philip. “The year 2016 we will be forever remembered as the year when two great friendly countries decided henceforth to pay particular attention to themselves and their policies’, said King Philip.
“We will not succeed in restoring confidence by turning back the clock, from a kind of utopian nostalgic thought. Nor by erecting walls,” he warned.
Petition watch:
The number of signatories against the planned state visit is now at more than 1.65 million.
The rival petition backing the planned state visit has just topped 90,000.
And more than 70 MPs have signed an early day motion calling on the Speaker to prevent President Trump addressing Parliament.
In his second tweet of the day, Trump expressed frustration at the delay to the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as his nomination for attorney general. Senator Sessions, an anti-immigration lawyer from Alabama, is thought to be one of the architects of the travel ban.
When will the Democrats give us our Attorney General and rest of Cabinet! They should be ashamed of themselves! No wonder D.C. doesn't work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2017
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the latest fallout from President Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim majority nations:
- Lord Ricketts, the former Foreign Office permanent secretary, has called for a delay of up to three years on Trump’s planned state visit to the UK, to save the Queen embarrassment. He said: “If you did it two or three years into the Trump presidency the controversial early policy announcements would have been out of the way.”
- The UN’s refugee agency says 800 refugees will be denied entry to USA this week and 20,000 people will be left in precarious circumstances by the ban. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he is “deeply worried by the uncertainty facing thousands of refugees” because of the ban.
- Donald Trump fired Sally Yates, the acting attorney general after she advised justice department lawyers not to defend a travel ban she considered to be “not lawful”. In an extraordinary statement announcing her dismissal, the White House said Yates had “betrayed the department of justice”.
- Yates was immediately replaced by Dana Boente, whose first act was to undo her last act. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, said news of Yates’ sacking was “chilling”.
- Thousands of people gathered across the UK to protest against Trump’s travel ban and his planned UK state visit. About 10,000 people were thought to have marched on Downing Street in London.
- MPs unanimously passed a motion condemning the “discriminatory, divisive and counterproductive” travel ban. The emergency debate was called by former Labour leader Ed Miliband and Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Baghdad and risked being banned from the US.
- Former president Barack Obama has spoken out against Trump’s travel ban. Obama’s spokesman, Kevin Lewis, said: “Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organise and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.”
Donald Trump’s has fired off his first tweet of the day to mock Democrats’ opposition to the travel ban.
Nancy Pelosi and Fake Tears Chuck Schumer held a rally at the steps of The Supreme Court and mic did not work (a mess)-just like Dem party!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2017
On Monday night, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, said news of Sally Yates’ sacking was “chilling”, pointing out that the attorney general’s duty is to the law and the constitution, rather than to the president.
Updated
Guardian Music has more on Bruce Springsteen speaking out against the ban (see earlier).
UNHCR: 800 refugees barred from US
The UN’s refugee agency says 800 refugees will be denied entry to USA this week and 20,000 people will be left in precarious circumstances by Trump’s 120 day refugee ban.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he is “deeply worried by the uncertainty facing thousands of refugees around the world who are in the process of being resettled to the United States”.
In a statement the UNHCR said:
This week alone, over 800 refugees were set to make America their new home, but instead find themselves barred from travelling to the US. UNHCR estimates that 20,000 refugees in precarious circumstances might have been resettled to the United States during the 120 days covered by the suspension announced Friday, based on average monthly figures for the last 15 years. Refugees are anxious, confused and heartbroken at this suspension in what is already a lengthy process.
For decades, the United States has been a global leader in refugee protection, a tradition rooted in the tolerance and generosity of the American people. UNHCR hopes the US will continue its strong leadership role and its long history of protecting those who are fleeing conflict and persecution.
The High Commissioner underlines once again UNHCR’s position that refugees should receive equal treatment for protection and assistance, and opportunities for resettlement, regardless of their religion, nationality or race.
The prospect of the Queen’s discomfort at Trump’s visit has been a gift for cartoonists. The Guardian’s Steve Bell imagines her screaming in horror whiling sitting in a state carriage with Trump.
The Times’s Morten Morland reckons the Queen could be tempted to build a wall to prevent Trump coming, while Prince Charles adds his name to the online petition against the visit.
One's cartoon in today's @thetimes #TrumpBan #queen pic.twitter.com/jAQTZChUNQ
— mortenmorland (@mortenmorland) January 31, 2017
And here’s Morland on Trump’s battle with his justice department.
Donald Trump and Justice #SallyYates pic.twitter.com/Xu13amCBnT
— mortenmorland (@mortenmorland) January 31, 2017
Updated
Amazon chief executive, Jeff Bezos, has pledged the full legal resources of his company to fight the travel ban, writes Alex Hern.
In an email to employees sent on Monday afternoon, Bezos said that Amazon would be putting its legal and lobbying efforts behind the fight against the ban. A key avenue of opposition involves supporting the attorney general for Washington state, where Amazon is headquartered, in his lawsuit against Trump –the first confirmed legal action from a state against one of the new administration’s policies.
In an excerpt from Bezos’s email published by Recode, the Amazon head details some of the company’s intended actions: “We reached out to congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to explore legislative options. Our legal team has prepared a declaration of support for the Washington state attorney general who will be filing suit against the order. We are working other legal options as well.”
Shadow business secretary Clive Lewis urged Theresa May to stop appeasing Trump.
In a speech to last night’s rally in Westminster, published by the Huffington Post, Lewis also tried to tie the issue to the tricky byelection Labour is facing in Stoke.
“Nowhere does it say Donald Trump has the right to undermine our human rights. Because an attack on one, be they Muslim, Mexican or gay, is an attack on all of us.
“So, Theresa May, listen up!
“We the British people are telling you stop with the appeasement. Stop indulging a racist, torture-supporting, woman-hating, crypto fascist. Stop him from coming to this country until he lifts the ban on Muslims.”
That’s because the EU referendum result did not give you a mandate to sell out on our British values. Did not give you permission to sell our NHS to Donald Trump and his corporate cronies. Did not give you permission to rip us away from our brothers and sisters in Europe and into the arms of Trump’s America.
“My final plea is this. It’s a plea to all the decent people of Stoke. Its clear the Tories have pulled back in Stoke to give Paul Nuttall of Ukip a clear run at Labour.
“In Richmond, progressive voters kicked out Zac Goldsmith - a man who conducted an outrageous racist mayoral campaign. They collectively kicked him out.
“Now I urge the progressive voters of Stoke to support the Labour candidate and stop the politics of Trump from coming to Westminster.
Updated
Here’s one we missed yesterday ... Bruce Springsteen added his voice to those protesting against the Muslim ban. At a concert in Adelaide he said the ban was “anti-democratic and fundamentally unAmerican.”
"America is a nation of immigrants and we find this anti-democratic and fundamentally un-American." pic.twitter.com/DsXSaLeNNN
— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) January 30, 2017
The Queen can take a state visit from Trump in her stride, according to former foreign secretary William Hague.
Writing in the Telegraph he says:
“A Queen who has been asked over the decades to host tyrants such as Presidents Mobuto of Zaire and Ceausescu of Romania is going to take a brash billionaire from New York effortlessly in her stride ...
State visits, if properly conducted, are about long-term friendship between nations, and all the links of the business, scientific, academic and diplomatic worlds. They give an incentive to both sides to make agreements to their mutual benefit – and the UK has never needed that more than now as we pull out of the EU.
Most of us do not warm to Donald Trump or agree with the policies of his first 10 days. We can still, however, believe that our government should be the one he is most likely to listen to, and that Americans of all persuasions are among our closest friends. That means that when we ask the president to visit, we don’t rescind the invitation.”
Labour MP Louise Haigh is concerned that all this talk of making it difficult for the Queen misses a bigger point.
Is embarrassing Queen really primary concern w fawning over a racist misogynist on cusp of destroying the world as we know it? #TrumpProtest
— Louise Haigh MP (@LouHaigh) January 31, 2017
Pro Brexit Tory MP Andrew Bridgen has suggested that the state visit invitation to Trump has boosted the UK’s prospects of a trade deal with the US.
Defending the invitation on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Bridgen said: “We do need a good relationship with the Americans.”
And alluding to President Obama’s warning about the UK going to the back of the queue if it voted for Brexit, Bridgen said: “With President Trump we have gone from the back of the queue to the front of the queue with regard to a free trade deal.”
Bridgen pointed out that no date had yet been set for the state visit. “He has enacted a temporary travel ban for 90 days. I would suspect that any date for his visit will be long after the travel ban has expired and new security arrangements are in place.”
Asked if he thought the visit would be delayed, Bridgen said:
“Anything is possible and diplomacy is very flexible ...
“He’ll have advisers around him, advising him of the right time to come to the UK. It won’t be in the next 90 days, but I think it will be in next six month.”
Ricketts: delay state visit by up to three years
Lord Ricketts, the former Foreign Office permanent secretary, has suggested delaying Trump’s state visit by up to three years to save the Queen embarrassment.
Expanding on his letter to the Times, Lord Ricketts, criticised the government for being too hasty in inviting Trump on a state visit.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said: “If you did it two or three years into the Trump presidency the controversial early policy announcements would have been out of the way, things would have settled down and then hopefully we could receive the president in that sort of warm celebrating spirit that you want to do with a state visit.”
He added: “The point about a state visit is that it directly involves the Queen in a very personal way. It is the Queen’s invitation. The fact that the invitation was given within the first days of President Trump arriving in the White House, apparently to happen in the first few months of his presidency, means that is comes much faster than it has for previous US presidents.”
Ricketts, who was the chair of the royal visits committee, pointed out that Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton were not given state visits until three years into their first terms. He said:
My concern is that ... clearly there is now a lot of controversy. If that continues then it seems to me then it does put the Queen in a difficult position. She would want to receive the President in a celebratory, warm, friendly visit. At the moment it looks quite controversial.
I was personally surprised that an invitation was issued so quickly. It does put the Queen directly involved at this early stage. In this early turbulent period, when these controversial policies are being announced, we have now got a state visit invitation on the table. It would have been possible to have invited the president to come on an official visit, but without the full panoply, the full accolade of a state visit quite so quickly.
I wouldn’t suggest it [the invitation] should be withdrawn. I don’t think the timing has yet been set, and what I suggested is that perhaps the timing of the state visit can now be put back a bit, until we are able to see the president in the sort of way we would want to do.
The alternative is that we continue as we are. But if the current level of protest and opposition, then I do think the Queen is put in a difficult position.
I’m trying to suggest a way forward now. With large scale protests, with a million and half people signing this petition in two or three days. There is controversy around this.
The other approach is to go ahead and hope that within a few months things will have calmed down and have a proper visit. At the moment that looks quite tricky.
Once this invitation has been issued, then of course there should be a state visit, and I wouldn’t be against that. But
Updated
Guardian columnist Owen Jones spoke to some of the thousands of protesters who gathered outside Downing Street on Monday night to demonstrate against Trump’s travel ban.
Alan Dershowitz, one of the most outspoken lawyers in the US, has criticised the way Sally Yates played into the hands of Donald Trump before he fired her.
The Harvard law professor who was part of OJ Simpson’s defence team, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he thought Trump’s travel ban is wrong and partly illegal.
But he also rounded on the tactical mistakes made by Yates in the way she criticised the policy.
Dershowitz said Yates “should not have ordered the justice department not to defend it [the travel ban]. She should have simply resigned in protest, but instead she made it almost imperative for the president to fire her. She played into his hands, and this has caused a tremendous disarray in our government, but it has probably helped Donald Trump politically because here he is standing up to the attorney general, firing her, and cleaning the swamp. So he has won this round unfortunately.”
He added that Trump will have stored up resentment in the justice department by sacking Yates. He said:
“There will be some people who are civil servants who will always resent the fact that the president fired the acting attorney general. So this will cause him some long term damage in his relations with the justice department, but President Trump doesn’t think long term.”
Asked about the legality of the travel ban, Dershowitz, said:
“I think parts of it are unlawful parts of it are lawful. I think it is all wrong, all bad policy, but there is an enormous difference between a ban on green card holders, which is illegal, and denying a visa to someone who has no prior connection to the United States.”
He also called on “principled Republicans” to stand up to Trump. “He’s going to have to garner their support, and he’s doing a very bad job of that up to now.”
Dershowitz said the prospect of impeachment is “off the table”. He explained:
“To be impeached in the United States is very very difficult. You have to really commit a high crime or misdemeanour under the constitution. And no president has ever been impeached when he controls both the house and the senate.”
“What he is going to try to do is govern through populism. We are a country in crisis. So much will depend on how responsible members of his own party respond to his excesses.”
Updated
Summary
- On a turbulent Monday evening in Washington, Donald Trump fired Sally Yates, the acting attorney general who had advised justice department lawyers not to defend a travel ban she considered to be “not lawful”.
- In a memorandum to staff, Yates – who was due to be in place until Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general, is confirmed – wrote:
At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with [my] responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful.
Consequently, for as long as I am the acting attorney general, the department of justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.
You can read the full letter here.
- In an extraordinary statement announcing her dismissal, the White House said Yates had “betrayed the department of justice”, adding:
Ms Yates is an Obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.
You can read the full statement here.
- Yates was immediately replaced by Dana Boente, whose first act was to undo her last act:
I hereby rescind former acting attorney general Sally Q Yates January 30, 2017, guidance and direct the men and women of the department of justice to do our sworn duty and to defend the lawful orders of our president.
You can read that full statement here.
- Video footage has surfaced of Yates’s confirmation hearing in 2015 (as deputy attorney general) in which Sessions – who faces a hearing of his own this week – quizzed her on fidelity to the law v fidelity to the president:
Sessions: Do you think the attorney general has a responsibility to say no to the president if he asks for something that’s improper? … If the views the president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or the deputy attorney general say no?
Yates: Senator, I believe the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the constitution, and to give their independent legal advice to the president.
- The Trump administration also removed the acting director of US immigration and customs enforcement (Ice), Daniel Ragsdale, late on Monday night without explanation. Newly appointed homeland security secretary John Kelly said Thomas Homan would take up the role in a statement that made no mention of Ragsdale. Ice later confirmed he would remain deputy director of the agency.
Updated
As a UK petition against the planned state visit by Donald Trump “because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen” tops 1.6 million signatures, there are signs that the possible royal embarrassment might be the issue that gives 10 Downing Street pause for thought.
Here’s the front page of Tuesday’s Times:
• Trump visit will hurt the Queen, May is told • Taxman hits middle-class earners with record fines #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/luQNPOGXKd
— The Times of London (@thetimes) January 30, 2017
In a letter to the newspaper, Lord Ricketts, who was permanent secretary at the UK foreign office from 2006-10 before becoming then prime minister David Cameron’s national security adviser, said the offer so early in Trump’s presidency was “premature” and put the Queen in a “very difficult position”, Press Association reports.
Ricketts said it was unprecedented for a US president to be given a state visit in their first year in the White House and questioned whether Mr Trump was “specially deserving of this exceptional honour”:
It would have been far wiser to wait to see what sort of president he would turn out to be before advising the Queen to invite him. Now the Queen is put in a very difficult position.
Who is Sally Yates, now no longer acting attorney general?
A career justice department attorney, she was the deputy attorney general in the Obama administration. The Trump team had asked her to stay on to allow for a cohesive transition, even as the other senior leadership of the justice department departed.
Yates, 56, from Atlanta, Georgia, was the lead prosecutor in the case against Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.
She received bipartisan praise when she was appointed to the number two spot below Loretta Lynch at the justice department in 2015. The Republican Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia said of her: “Sally Quillian Yates is a human being I have known for almost 40 years. For 25 years she has been the lead prosecutor in the northern district of Georgia.
“She has been an equal opportunity prosecutor. She’s prosecuted Democrats, Republicans, independents, Olympic park bombers, anybody that violated the public trust, any abuse of power.”
His fellow Republican, David Perdue, said of Yates: “I’m confident that she will bring an objective, apolitical approach to the justice department.”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has praised the actions of former acting attorney general Sally Yates after she was fired by Donald Trump for saying his travel ban was not lawful:
It was a profile in courage. It was a brave act and a right act …
How can you run a country like this?
Updated
Patrick Leahy, ranking member of the Senate judiciary committee, has criticised the firing of Sally Yates – and the White House wording of her dismissal:
Federal courts have already found President Trump’s immigration order is very likely unconstitutional, and tonight, acting attorney general Yates concluded that it was not legally defensible.
She was fired for recognising that her oath is to the constitution and not to President Trump. His accusation that she has ‘betrayed the department of justice’ is wrong and it is dangerous.
President Trump has now put his cabinet on notice: if you adhere to your oath of office to defend the constitution, you risk your job.
Equally troubling is that his nominee for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, has shown no indication that he has the independence to put the constitution before the president. The Senate at its best can be the conscience of the nation. Senators must oppose Senator Sessions.
The Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, has spoken to the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Mexico’s government has said.
It said the pair spoke by phone on Monday and agreed to strengthen ties:
Both leaders agreed to keep in close contact and intensify their teams’ work to speed up the integration of a stronger and more prosperous North America.
The statement said Peña Nieto “reiterated the will of the Mexican government to continue reinforcing ties … between the two peoples”.
The new US president has threatened to leave Nafta (the North American Free Trade Agreement) if Mexico and Canada will not renegotiate it.
A meeting last week between Trump and Peña Nieto was cancelled after Mexico once again insisted it would not pay for the US president’s proposed border wall.
This is a great find.
Here’s Sally Yates at her confirmation hearing in 2015 for her then role as deputy attorney general.
She’s asked by Jeff Sessions – yes, that Jeff Sessions, who is now Trump’s nominee for attorney general – whether she could say no to a president who wanted to do something unlawful.
Here’s part of the exchange:
Sessions: Do you think the attorney general has a responsibility to say no to the president if he asks for something that’s improper? … If the views the president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or the deputy attorney general say no?
Yates: Senator, I believe the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the constitution, and to give their independent legal advice to the president.
Amazing. Sally Yates at her confirmation hearing answering her job-ending Q. Look who's asking. Via @charles_gaba pic.twitter.com/3Vsf9UugIu
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) January 31, 2017
New acting attorney general rescinds Yates guidance on travel ban
The first act of new acting attorney general Dana Boente is to undo the last act of the previous acting attorney general Sally Yates.
In a statement, Boente said:
On January 30, 2017, Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates issued a memorandum barring Department of Justice Attorney’s [sic] from presenting arguments in defense of the President’s January 27, 2017, Executive Order entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States”.
At approximately 9.00pm I was asked by the President to serve in the capacity of Acting Attorney General. After having dedicated the last thirty-three years of my life to this Department, I am humbled and incredibly honored to serve as Acting Attorney General.
Based upon the Office of Legal Counsel’s analysis, which found the Executive Order both lawful on its face and properly drafted, I hereby rescind former Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates January 30, 2017, guidance and direct the men and women of the Department of Justice to do our sworn duty and to defend the lawful orders of our President.
The new acting attorney general, Dana Boente, has immediately overruled the advice of the previous (now fired) acting attorney general Sally Yates that the president’s travel ban was not lawful and should not be defended.
Justice department lawyers must now defend the order.
BREAKING: New acting attorney general directs Justice Department to defend Trump's executive order on immigration and refugees.
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 31, 2017
The Trump administration replaced the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [Ice] just after firing the acting US attorney general as the backlash over the president’s controversial travel ban continues to grow.
Daniel Ragsdale, the acting Ice director who had served under the Obama administration as the agency’s deputy director since 2012, was removed from the acting director role late on Monday night without public explanation.
In a brief statement, Trump’s newly appointed homeland security secretary John Kelly said Ragsdale would be replaced by Thomas Homan, formerly the executive associate director of Ice’s enforcement and removal operations [ERO] division. Homan has served in the agency since its creation in 2003, and in the ERO division, which oversees deportations, since 2009.
“I look forward to working alongside him to ensure that we enforce our immigration laws in the interior of the United States consistent with the national interest,” Kelly, a former Marine Corps general, said.
Shortly after Kelly’s statement, which made no mention of Ragsdale, Ice confirmed he would remain deputy director of the agency.
Last week the Trump administration vastly expanded the powers of the agency, by broadening immigration enforcement priorities through an executive order. Ice agents are now able to target almost any of American’s 11 million undocumented migrants for deportation. Under the order, the agency can target undocumented migrants convicted of minor crimes, those who have only been accused of crimes, and those whom individual agency deem a threat to public safety or national security.
Updated
On a turbulent night, more confusion: ICE acting director Daniel Ragsdale has not been fired, the department of homeland security says, contrary to earlier reports.
Ragsdale has been replaced as acting director but apparently returns to his role as ICE deputy director.
The new acting director is Thomas Homan.
Again, according to DHS, Daniel Ragsdale, acting ICE director, was not fired but will remain in his role as deputy director
— Mark Berman (@markberman) January 31, 2017
Updated
Monday night massacre?
Already commentators are comparing Sally Yates’s firing to the so-called Saturday Night Massacre of 1973. However, what some cable networks are calling “the Monday night massacre” doesn’t quite measure up to that notorious night in the Nixon administration.
The Saturday Night Massacre occurred after Richard Nixon ordered the then attorney general Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor who was investigating Watergate. Cox had subpoenaed Nixon for taped conversations of the then president in the Oval Office and Nixon did not want to comply.
Richardson, who previously served as secretary of health, education and welfare and then defense secretary in Nixon’s cabinet, was a traditional Yankee Republican who was pillar of the Massachusetts GOP. A former supreme court clerk and decorated war hero, Richardson had previously served in statewide elected office in Massachusetts. But when Nixon ordered him to fire Cox, Richardson refused and resigned in protest.
He was following in doing so by William Ruckelshaus, his deputy, who had previously served as the first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Eventually solicitor general Robert Bork, who was next in line, fired Cox.
The Saturday Night Massacre was a defining moment in the Watergate scandal. The president fired two highly respected Republican officials and demonstrated that he had something to hide from the American people.
In contrast, Yates is a temporary holdover from the Obama administration who was simply serving until Trump’s nominee for attorney general could be confirmed. Further, unlike Cox, who was a special prosecutor and supposed to be protected from dismissal without cause, Yates could be fired at any time.
The shock on Monday night is not that Yates was fired from a job that she was unlikely to hold for any longer for the remainder of the week after putting herself in direct opposition to the president. Instead, it’s as much the tone of the White House statement which accused her of “betray[ing] the department of justice” and derides her as “weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration”.
This isn’t a remake of All the President’s Men. Instead, it’s simply that the American government has now become yet another episode of The Apprentice.
Updated
Here’s Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who thinks it “fitting” that “after eight long years of a lawless Obama department of justice” Sally Yates has “force[d] the president to fire her”:
It is fitting--and sad--that the very last act of the Obama DOJ is for the acting AG to defy the newly elected POTUS https://t.co/JiUCizK3bu pic.twitter.com/20Ph4lZRVh
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) January 31, 2017
The acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Daniel Ragsdale, has been replaced.
A statement from the department of homeland security announces Thomas Homan as the new acting director – but doesn’t mention Ragsdale at all.
No reason for the change is given.
[This post was edited at 11.25pm ET to clarify that, according to the DHS, Ragsdale has not been fired. He has been replaced by Homan as acting director but apparently returns to his role as deputy director.]
Updated
In a sign of the turbulent waters in which Trump is swimming, it is unclear if the new acting attorney general can sign national security surveillance requests.
According to the seminal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the central pillar of domestic national security surveillance law, only the attorney general, deputy attorney general or designated assistant attorney general for national security may sign off on surveillance requests submitted to the secret Fisa court.
But the attorney general and deputy attorney general require Senate confirmation. The assistant attorney general for national security’s designation requires approval by the attorney general. (The justice department’s national security division is currently run by an interim appointee.)
Although the new acting attorney general Dana Boente was confirmed by the Senate as a US attorney in Virginia, it is an unsettled question whether his current interim role gives him sufficient powers for the sensitive surveillance requests.
Mike German, an FBI counterterrorism agent and surveillance law expert, said the Boente appointment had created an “unprecedented” situation for surveillance law, but thought that the Fisa court was unlikely to stand in the way of a surveillance request.
“The Fisa court doesn’t have a long history of finding reasons to reject [requests], and if it were to err here, it’d be on the side of authorizing the new acting attorney general to sign the warrants,” German said.
The White House indicated to pool reporters it believes Boente would possess the requisite surveillance authority.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, says news of Yates’ sacking is “chilling”, pointing out that the attorney general’s duty is to the law and the constitution, rather than to the president:
The AG should pledge fidelity to the law & the Constitution not the WhiteHouse. The fact that this admin doesnt understand that is chilling.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 31, 2017
Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leader in the house, says Trump fired Yates “to get the answer he wants” on the legality of his travel ban:
Tonight, the acting attorney general was fired for upholding the constitution of the United States. What the Trump administration calls betrayal is an American with the courage to say that the law and the constitution come first.
President Trump’s executive order violates the constitution, dishonors our values, and weakens the security of the United States. National security experts are warning that the president’s ban will make it harder, not easier to defeat terror.
Earlier tonight, House Republicans blocked Democrats’ emergency bill to rescind this dangerous and unconstitutional executive order. Now, President Trump has fired the acting attorney general to get the answer he wants.
Republicans will have to decide whether they will be complicit in the President’s reckless, wrathful and unconstitutional agenda.
Some support for Trump from former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who labels Yates “insubordinate” for her judgment that the president’s executive order was not lawful:
Trump practiced "you're fired for years". Today he applied it to an insubordinate acting atty general. Congratulations.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) January 31, 2017
Updated
Sally Yates found out she had been fired via “a hand-delivered letter from the White House’s office of personnel”, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Dana Boente has already been sworn in as acting attorney general, the White House confirms, at 9pm ET.
The White House said he is now authorised to sign foreign surveillance warrants (Yates was previously the only person who could do so).
Boente would not have been the automatic next-in-line to Yates, some have pointed out:
Also, the next U.S. atty in line of succession was not Boente, but Zach Fardon. Did Trump go forum shopping for one who would follow orders?
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) January 31, 2017
Updated
Political reaction to Trump’s sacking of Sally Yates is coming in:
@realDonaldTrump acts like Dick Nixon in firing Sally Yates at "Justice(sic)".She's now an Elliot Richardson hero standing against tyranny
— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) January 31, 2017
(In 1973, in the so-called “Saturday night massacre”, Richard Nixon fired his attorney general and deputy attorney general over their refusal to oust the Watergate prosecutor.)
Updated
Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post says Dana Boente, the new acting attorney general, has already confirmed to him that he will reverse Yates’ position and tell justice department lawyers to defend the travel ban:
The new Acting Attorney General, to me just now, on whether he'll enforce the immigration order. pic.twitter.com/Mcll4z6ish
— Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) January 31, 2017
Yates fired: full text of White House statement
The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States. This order was approved as to form and legality by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.
Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.
It is time to get serious about protecting our country. Calling for tougher vetting for individuals travelling from seven dangerous places is not extreme. It is reasonable and necessary to protect our country.
Tonight, President Trump relieved Ms. Yates of her duties and subsequently named Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to serve as Acting Attorney General until Senator Jeff Sessions is finally confirmed by the Senate, where he is being wrongly held up by Democrat senators for strictly political reasons.
“I am honored to serve President Trump in this role until Senator Sessions is confirmed. I will defend and enforce the laws of our country to ensure that our people and our nation are protected,” said Dana Boente, Acting Attorney General.
The new acting attorney general – until Trump’s nominee, Jeff Sessions, is confirmed – will be Dana Boente, US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, the White House says.
Sally Yates fired
The office of White House press secretary Sean Spicer has issued a statement saying that Sally Yates has been “relieved … of her duties” as acting attorney general:
And Sally Yates has been fired pic.twitter.com/Pbw0MxxNOt
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 31, 2017
Updated
Donald Trump might still be plugging away on Twitter now he’s in office, but at least one of his appointees with similarly eyebrow-raising tweet tendencies now appears to have gone offline.
General Michael Flynn, national security adviser to the president and formerly tweeting at @GenFlynn, seems to have deleted his account.
CNN has a roundup of Flynn’s more controversial tweets, including one from February 2016 in which he declared:
Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL.
Flynn also had to apologise last year after retweeting an antisemitic comment.
Updated
The internal department of homeland security document seen by Reuters has some figures on the numbers of people already directly affected by the travel ban.
Between late Friday and early Monday, it said:
- 348 visa holders were prevented from boarding US-bound flights.
- More than 200 people landed in the US but were denied entry.
- More than 735 people were taken aside for questioning by customs and border protection officers in US airports.
- 394 of those were legal permanent US residents holding green cards.
Updated
China cautiously weighed in on Donald Trump’s controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying “reasonable concerns” must be taken into account.
“China believes that adjusting immigration and entry and exit policy is an act within each country’s sovereignty,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters.
“At the same time, relevant moves must also consider the reasonable concerns of relevant countries.”
The statement didn’t elaborate beyond that vague language.
China often says it is inappropriate for countries to “comment on the internal affairs of others”, in an attempt to deflect frequent criticisms of its own affairs by the US and Europe.
But as China works to take a greater role in global diplomacy, especially in the Middle East, it is having to rethink this long-held stance.
Sudan and Iran are both close allies of China, and were both targeted in the Trump executive order. And while China does not deny entry to entire countries, the government heavily restricts international travel based on ethnicity of its own citizens, particularly Muslim Uighurs and Tibetans.
Democrats have been protesting outside the supreme court on Monday evening against Trump’s travel ban.
(Separately, on Tuesday evening, the president is set to announce his nomination for the vacant seat on the supreme court. Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland in March last year, an appointment that was blocked by Republicans.)
Rallying w/ @HouseDemocrats, @SenateDems & thousands of supporters to urge @WhiteHouse to revoke the unlawful #MuslimBan. Democracy rising! pic.twitter.com/IiIe5i22ux
— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) January 31, 2017
Incredible scene here at the Supreme Court. This is what America is about- standing together for all faiths, families, and backgrounds. pic.twitter.com/vCUV13hNiB
— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) January 31, 2017
Tom Perez, one of the contenders for DNC chair, has come out fighting for Sally Yates:
For nearly three decades, acting attorney general Sally Yates has served presidents of both parties, defending the constitution and holding terrorists and other criminals accountable. Acting attorney general Yates’s record is simply beyond reproach – that’s why she was confirmed with strong bi-partisan support.
The fact is that acting attorney general Yates, and every law enforcement official and credible attorney, knows Trump’s Muslim ban is illegal.
The acting attorney general is standing up to this dangerous executive order that goes against everything we stand for as a country and only puts more American lives at risk. We’re fortunate to have such dedicated public servants across the federal government who are committed to doing the right thing.
Her independence and commitment to upholding the constitution is exactly what our country lacks if the Senate confirms Sen. Jeff Sessions. We’ve got to fight like hell to prevent that from happening.
Trump has – of course – hopped on to Twitter to respond to the move by Sally Yates, acting attorney general (and an Obama nominee who’s in post until Trump’s own pick, Jeff Sessions is confirmed), who has instructed justice department lawyers not to defend the president’s travel ban.
I had assumed there was a follow-up tweet coming, but 25 minutes later am concluding that this might be it:
The Democrats are delaying my cabinet picks for purely political reasons. They have nothing going but to obstruct. Now have an Obama A.G.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2017
Associated Press says the man Trump has cited as a source for his unsubstantiated claim that millions of people voted illegally in the election is himself registered to vote in three states:
A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned.
Look forward to seeing final results of VoteStand. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2017
Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show.
Trump has made an issue of people who are registered to vote in more than one state, using it as one of the bedrocks of his overall contention that voter fraud is rampant in the US and that voting by 3 to 5 million immigrants illegally in the country cost him the popular vote in November.
The AP found that Phillips was registered in Alabama and Texas under the name Gregg Allen Phillips, with the identical social security number. Mississippi records list him under the name Gregg A. Phillips, and that record includes the final four digits of Phillips’ social security number, his correct date of birth and a prior address matching one once attached to Gregg Allen Phillips. He has lived in all three states.
At the time of November’s presidential election, Phillips’ status was “inactive” in Mississippi and suspended in Texas. Officials in both states told the AP that Phillips could have voted, however, by producing identification and updating his address at the polls.
Protests across UK over proposed Trump visit
Thousands of people have gathered across the UK to protest against Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting seven Muslim-majority countries, his indefinite bar on Syrian refugees and his planned UK state visit.
About 10,000 people were thought to have marched on Downing Street in London, with the crowd stretching the length of Whitehall by 7pm. Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester and Birmingham also had large demonstrations.
Protesters showed their anger on the day that a petition calling for the US president’s state visit to the UK to be axed passed 1.5m signatures.
Also on Monday night MPs unanimously passed a motion condemning the “discriminatory, divisive and counterproductive” travel ban, after an emergency debate called by former Labour leader Ed Miliband and Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Baghdad and risked being banned from the US.
(UK officials have since advised that UK dual nationals will not be affected, but this remains unclear.)
The motion passed unanimously in House of Commons this eve condemning "Trump's discriminatory, divisive & counterproductive ban" pic.twitter.com/jaZ18KtJhS
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) January 30, 2017
Updated
Full letter from acting attorney general
Here is the full letter from Sally Yates, acting attorney general, to justice department lawyers (bolding for emphasis is mine):
On January 27, 2017, the President signed an Executive Order regarding immigrants and refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries. The order has now been challenged in a number of jurisdictions. As the Acting Attorney General, it is my ultimate responsibility to determine the position of the Department of Justice in these actions.
My role is different from that of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which, through administrations of both parties, has reviewed Executive Orders for form and legality before they are issued. OLC’s review is limited to the narrow question of whether, in OLC’s view, a proposed Executive Order is lawful on its face and properly drafted. Its review does not take account of statements made by an administration or it surrogates close in time to the issuance of an Executive Order that may bear on the order’s purpose. And importantly, it does not address whether any policy choice embodied in an Executive Order is wise or just.
Similarly, in litigation, DOJ Civil Division lawyers are charged with advancing reasonable legal arguments that can be made supporting an Executive Order. But my role as leader of this institution is different and broader. My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts. In addition, I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right. At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful.
Consequently, for as long as I am the Acting Attorney General, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the Executive Order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.
Updated
872 refugees will come to US this week under waivers
Reuters reports that – despite the executive order banning all refugees from entering the US for 120 days – hundreds of refugees will be permitted to come to America this week:
The US government has granted waivers to let 872 refugees into the country this week, despite President Donald Trump’s executive order on Friday temporarily banning entry of refugees from any country, according to an internal department of homeland security document seen by Reuters.
A homeland security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the waivers, noting that the refugees were considered “in transit” and had already been cleared for resettlement before the ban took effect.
Refugees preparing for resettlement typically have severed personal ties and relinquished their possessions, leaving them particularly vulnerable if their plans to depart are suddenly cancelled.
It was not known if additional waivers would be granted, the official said. The document did not give the nationalities of the refugees.
The 872 refugees to be admitted this week, under the waivers, were screened using Obama administration procedures, which typically take two years and include several interviews and a background check.
Before news broke of the instruction by the acting attorney general that justice department lawyers will not defend Trump’s travel ban, a number of legal challenges had already been made to the executive order.
Over the weekend, federal judges in four states ordered that no one who was en route or had reached the US with a valid visa or green card at the time the executive order was signed could be deported. They did not decide whether Trump’s measures – to suspend travel from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days; to suspend the Syrian refugee program indefinitely; to suspend all refugee admissions for 120 days; and to prioritize refugees of minority – were constitutional.
Rulings were made in New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington, each of which differed slightly.
Attorney generals in New York and Washington state have already called the executive order unconstitutional.
In the New York court on Saturday night, government lawyers defending the case were visibly unsure what to say. Attorney Susan Riley told the court:
This has unfolded with such speed that we haven’t had an opportunity to address the issues, the important legal issues.
More from the letter sent by acting attorney general Sally Yates to justice department lawyers, according to a report in the New York Times, which has seen the letter:
For as long as I am the acting attorney general, the department of justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.
Yates is acting attorney general only until Trump’s own pick, Jeff Sessions, is confirmed.
Trump does have the power to fire Yates ahead of that moment.
Updated
Attorney general tells justice department lawyers not to defend travel ban – reports
CNN is reporting that Sally Yates, acting attorney general, has advised justice department lawyers not to defend Trump’s travel ban.
According to CNN, Yates – who is an Obama appointee in the role until Trump’s nominee, Jeff Sessions, is approved – “does not believe the substance of the order is lawful”.
The New York Times also reports from a letter reportedly sent by Yates to justice department lawyers:
I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right.
At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful.
Updated
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, steps up now.
The order will make us unsafe, the order will make us inhumane and the order will make us less American.
The nations of the world will no longer look up to us …
We will fight this with everything we have and we will win this fight.
Right now, Democrats are holding a protest against Trump’s travel ban on the steps of the supreme court. They want the president to rescind the executive order.
Nancy Pelosi, the house minority leader, says:
What the president did undermines our values.
What the president did is not constitutional … In the view of many of us, it is immoral.
Pelosi says the move is “reckless and rash”.
Summary
- Former president Barack Obama – remember him? – has spoken out against Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, with a spokesman saying he was “heartened” by protests against the executive order and that he
fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.
- A draft memo circulating among US diplomats said the ban would make the US less safe from terrorism, and
stands in opposition to the core American and constitutional values that we, as federal employees, took an oath to uphold.
- The Council on American–Islamic Relations (Cair) has issued a lawsuit claiming the ban violates the first amendment of the constitution, which establishes the right to freedom of religion.
- Thousands of people across the UK joined protests against the travel ban, marching in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and other cities.
- The UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi said he was “deeply worried” about the executive order, which halts all refugees admissions for 120 days and suspends Syrian refugees indefinitely:
Refugees are anxious, confused and heartbroken at this suspension in what is already a lengthy process.
- But the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said the ban was “about the safety of America”:
I think it’s a shame that people were inconvenienced, obviously, but at the end of the day we’re talking about a couple of hours.
Being able to come to America is a privilege, not a right.
Find more in Tom McCarthy’s daily roundup here.
Imraan Siddiqi, the head of CAIR Arizona and one of the activists involved in the CAIR legal suit against Trump’s executive order, tweeted about the lawsuit:
Oh BTW, I'm suing Trump. https://t.co/OJI06QmL7S
— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) January 30, 2017
Should be fun. March for me if I get targeted by the state.
— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) January 30, 2017
In all seriousness, we fight for all those who are being unjustly targeted - & standing on the shoulders of targeted communities before us.
— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) January 30, 2017
UNHCR 'deeply worried' about Trump travel ban
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is “deeply worried” about Trump’s travel ban executive order, which halts all refugees admissions for 120 days and suspends Syrian refugees indefinitely.
In a statement, Grandi noted that 800 refugees due to arrive in the United States this week are now barred from entry.
“UNHCR estimates that 20,000 refugees in precarious circumstances might have been resettled to the United States during the 120 days covered by the suspension announced Friday, based on average monthly figures for the last 15 years. Refugees are anxious, confused and heartbroken at this suspension in what is already a lengthy process,” reads the statement.
Last year 96,874 refugees resettled in the United States, with 15,479 of them coming from Syria, according to US state department figures. But Trump’s decision affects the US’s global standing, said Grandi:
For decades, the United States has been a global leader in refugee protection, a tradition rooted in the tolerance and generosity of the American people. UNHCR hopes the US will continue its strong leadership role and its long history of protecting those who are fleeing conflict and persecution.
Women's March organizer launches legal action against Trump
The Council on American‐Islamic Relations launched legal action against Donald Trump and his executive order travel ban in the eastern district court of Virginia today, calling
The lead plaintiff of the case is Linda Sarsour, the executive director of Arab American Association of New York and an organizer of the Women’s March on Washington on January 21.
The plaintiffs, a high-profile group of Muslim activists, lawyers and politicians, call it an “unconstitutional order” by a president who has led a campaign to fuel fear and discrimination against Muslims and that the order is “a legal manifestation of those bigoted views”.
President Trump’s Muslim Exclusion Order imposes upon Islam—the religion to which all of the Plaintiffs belong—the stigma of government disfavor. This condemnation, which has been cast to the general public pursuant to the Muslim Exclusion Order, signals to Plaintiffs’ fellow citizens that their faith is uniquely threatening and dangerous insofar as it is the only religion singled out for disfavored treatment.
No accident that @lsarsour is lead plaintiff in lawsuit against Trump #MuslimBan. Will go down in history as SARSOUR v. TRUMP. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/wRUV3M96fI
— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) January 30, 2017
Sarsour, a Palestinian-American who was born in Brooklyn, also led protests at JFK airport and in Battery Park over the weekend against the travel ban.
Updated
A reporter asks about the 300 people around the world awaiting to board planes to the US and were not allowed because of the travel ban. Spicer dodges the question.
Spicer again speaking about the travel ban.
“This is about the safety of America. This is why the majority of Americans agree with the president... these steps are frankly common sense steps to make sure we’re never looking at the rear-view mirror asking ‘we should have done something’”, says Spicer.
Does Trump have anything to say to protesters and those who the travel ban affects, a reporter asks.
“I think it’s a shame that people were inconvenienced, obviously, but at the end of the day we’re talking about a couple of hours,” says Spicer, saying he’d rather people had to wait at airports than encounter terrorism.
“Being able to come to America is a privilege, not a right,” says Spicer.
“We have to wait in lines too,” says Spicer.
When quizzed if other countries would be added to the list of seven, Spicer says: “We don’t have to look at the families of the Boston marathon, the San Bernardino, to ask if we can go further. He adds that it’s possible extra countries will be added to the list.
Obama: 'heartened' by protests over travel ban
He’s back! A statement from Barack Obama about the mass rallies of people protesting around the country all weekend over Trump’s travel ban executive order.
Obama statement on the protests of Trump's Executive Order pic.twitter.com/EnLodhaG0T
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) January 30, 2017
Updated
Sean Spicer: 'I feel confident' about legal challenges over travel ban
Journalists quiz Sean Spicer about legal action being taken against Trump’s executive order.
Spicer mentions the Brooklyn federal court decision on Saturday evening, and adds: “We won’t have to prevail in that case, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s about people being deported. The process was never about that.”
Spicer says that in a 24-hour period over the weekend, 109 were stopped for additional screening out of 325,000, a number he saw as minor.
“The majority of Americans agree with the president. They recognize the steps he’s taken,” he says.
Journalists note that the Brooklyn federal court is just one of four federal court actions that have already ruled against parts of the order, but Spicer says he’s not concerned.
“I don’t think any of the others are pertaining... all of the forces and actions protecting the order are in place now... I feel confident,” says Spicer.
Updated
Spicer is asked about the travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries and whether it is more extreme than any action from the Obama administration.
“We’ve going to put the safety of Americans first ... We’re not going to wait until we get attacked and figure out how it’s going to happen again,” says Spicer.
“That’s the key point in this: how do we keep ahead of threats?” adds Spicer.
“That’s what the president has done... putting America’s safety and security first and foremost,” says Spicer.
“His view is not to wait to get ahead of the curve ... we don’t know when that hour comes, we don’t know when the individual comes to do us harm.”
Updated
Spicer says this morning’s executive order about regulation will help small business. But he makes no mention of the travel ban before heading to questions from the press.
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Spicer talks about how Trump is concerned about Isis and terrorism, and the “the United States must take decisive action and the president is taking the right steps.”
He mentions the calls that Trump has taken with foreign leaders, including Middle Eastern leaders, over the weekend.
“Notably he did all this in the face of supreme obstructionism from Democrats in the Senate,”, says Spicer, saying 17 nominees still await confirmation.
“These cabinet members are all unbelievably qualified and will all be confirmed by the Senate, and Democrats know this,” says Spicer.
“There’s been a lot of misreporting this week about what this memo does and does not do,” says Sean Spicer, referring to the changes made by Trump to the National Security Council, where controversial advisor Steve Bannon is now on the panel and the director of intelligence and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff will not always attend the principals committee.
“This idea there’s been a change or a downgrade is utter nonsense,” says Bannon.
Spicer says they called several outlets “who had been misreporting this memo to explain what it means” yesterday.
Trump will now amend the memo to add the CIA into the memo, says Spicer, saying that the Obama administration had not included the CIA.
Updated
Sean Spicer starts off his press briefing by saying Trump has spoken with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to give his condolences over the shooting at a Quebec mosque where six people were killed.
Spicer notes that the “tragic” event is a reminder “why the president is taking steps to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to keeping citizens safe.”
That’s presumably a reference to Trump’s executive order banning travel to citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Updated
Video: Sean Spicer gives White House press briefing
Washington state launches lawsuit against Trump travel ban
The Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, announced on Monday his state was launching a legal challenge against Trump’s travel ban executive order, the first state to do so.
“The judicial system is adept at protecting the constitution. President Trump may have his alternative facts, but alternative facts do not work in a courtroom,” said Inslee, as he announced the lawsuit with state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, in a press conference shown on Facebook live.
“This is real hope that this outrage will not stand... we’ve already seen the president retreat on the green-card holder issue... This is not over, people need to have hope,” he said.
Inslee noted that since September 11, 2001 there have been 700,000 refugees admitted to the Untied States, there was not one single fatality from a crime by a refugee from any of the seven Muslim-majority countries as part of the ban.
“That is a fact. And facts tend to become somewhat relevant in a courtroom, even if they aren’t in reality TV,” said Inslee.
He said the classification of banning immigrants based their country of citizenship goes against state statutes to stop discrimination based on place of birth or nationality.
When asked about Trump’s power to make immigration decisions in his role as president, Ferguson said: “I understand that is their argument. But those powers are not without limit... we are confident that our lawsuit exposes those limits and makes it clear he is acting beyond those limits”.
Tonight thousands came together in Seattle, and I am proud to stand with all of you as we speak out against hate and bigotry. pic.twitter.com/M3fIEI022g
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) January 30, 2017
Updated
Coming up at 1:30pm ET is a briefing from Sean Spicer, White House press secretary.
There’s been a large number of protests against the travel ban arranged in the UK today, including evening events towns and cities as far aparts as Aberdeen, Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.
Here are some photos from the protests taken by Guardian colleagues reporting on them in Wales and in Manchester.
Dump Trump posters at the foot of the Aneurin Bevan statue in Cardiff ahead of protest. pic.twitter.com/HE6cw65F4q
— steven morris (@stevenmorris20) January 30, 2017
From Guardian reporter Frances Perraudin in Manchester:
The crowd is gathering in Manchester’s Albert Square outside the city’s town hall. Over 2,600 people have said they will attend tonight’s demonstration against Donald Trump’s immigration directive.
The site for the demonstration is a stone’s throw from Lincoln Square, where a statue of US president Abraham Lincoln was erected to give thanks to Lancashire’s cotton workers for “their fight for the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War”. (An economic blockade of slave-picked cotton from the southern states caused massive unemployment in the region’s cotton industry.)
Dean Smith, a 24-year-old sports journalist, is the main organiser of this evening’s demo. Smith says it was a tweet by the writer David Slack that prompted him to act on his horror at Trump’s directive. The tweet reads: “Remember sitting in history, thinking ‘If I was alive then, I would’ve…’ You’re alive now. Whatever you’re doing is what you would’ve done.”
Organiser of the Manchester #TrumpBan demo, 24-year-old Dean Smith, has never organised a protest before. Says Trump's actions are vile. pic.twitter.com/KJ8ynYXluW
— Frances Perraudin (@fperraudin) January 30, 2017
Clare Solomon is helping out with the organising. Says May's grovelling is repugnant #StandUpToTrump pic.twitter.com/qKYqC9DfeG
— Frances Perraudin (@fperraudin) January 30, 2017
Thousands protesting in Manchester, UK, against Trump. Chanting "Refugees in, Theresa May out". #TrumpBan pic.twitter.com/qOsgTDCF7P
— Helen Pidd (@helenpidd) January 30, 2017
Video: Donald Trump says migration orders were a 'good day'
Donald Trump on Monday said he was happy with the imposition of a travel ban on Muslim-majority nations.
“We actually had a very good day yesterday in terms of homeland security and someday we were hoping to move and we decided to make a move,” Trump told reporters while meeting with small business owners at the White House.
Over the weekend a Facebook post by data scientist Nazanin Zinouri, who is Iranian and lives in South Carolina, went viral after Zinouri wrote about being unallowed to return to the US because of the travel ban, although she has an apartment, job, friends, dog and life here.
She expanded on her post in an article in the Washington Post, discussing her experience after being banned from boarding a flight in Dubai to the United States:
A million thoughts rushed through my mind, from the practical to the philosophical: What happens to Dexter [her dog] now? He is waiting for his mom to come home. Who is going to take him for doctor visits? What happens to my car parked at the long-term lot at the Atlanta airport? What happens to all the stuff I had collected during 6½ years living in the United States? What about my lease? Will my landlord think I just left town? What happens to my job, my life, my American Dream? I flew back to Tehran to stay with my family and figure out what to do next, stung by the realization that as far as the U.S. government is concerned, my life doesn’t matter. Nothing I worked for all these years matters.
Read the rest here.
UK arranges deal with US over travel ban for British citizens
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has insisted that the UK government has hammered out a new deal with Donald Trump’s administration under which anyone carrying a British passport will not be banned from entering the US.
The foreign secretary told parliament that further talks with senior figures inside the White House had secured a more detailed agreement that dual nationals would not be stopped, even if they were travelling from one of the seven countries covered by the US ban.
Johnson made clear that the new US immigration policy, which he described as “highly controversial”, was not a measure that the British government would consider.
Following talks between himself and the home secretary, Amber Rudd, and their US counterparts, he said: “I’m able to provide the following clarification. The general principle is that all British passport holders remain welcome to travel to the US. We have received assurances that this executive order will make no difference to any British passport holder irrespective of their country of birth or if they hold another passport.”
Read the rest here.
Helena Smith, our correspondent in Greece, the county long on the frontline of the refugee crisis, reports on Syrians being the biggest victims of Trump’s travel ban.
The implications of the freeze may still be unclear but of one thing human rights groups are sure: Syrian refugees fleeing atrocity and war are among the biggest losers not least because the U.S. has resettled more Syrian refugees to date than any other country.
“What is very clear cut is that Syrian refugees have now lost one of their very few tickets out,” Amnesty International’s deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, Gauri Van Gulik, told the Guardian.
“The U.S. has been the biggest re-settler country. For Syrians who had some hope of being resettled, that hope is now shut. It’s a huge loss,” said Van Gulik.
Around 800,000 Syrians fled to Europe via Greece at the height of the conflict in 2015. The vast majority made their way further north until borders along the Balkan corridor were closed and thousands were subsequently stranded in Greece.
Updated
Trump just signed another new executive order, this one on the theme of cutting regulation.
The purpose of the order states that:
for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations be identified for elimination, and that the cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled through a budgeting process.
It’s being done as a cost-cutting measure, although it’s not yet clear the practicalities of cutting two regulations for every new regulation to be implemented.
State Dept circulating 'dissent channel' memo against Trump's travel ban
A “Dissent Channel” memo slamming Trump’s executive orders as “counter to core American values” and saying the changes will instead aid terrorists is circulating amongst State Department staffers, reports the Washington Post.
The memo, which is titled “Alternatives to Closing Doors in Order to Secure Our Borders” according to the draft published in the Washington Post, is being signed by State Department staff.
Then, it will be sent officially through the Dissent Channel, a channel used to communicate dissenting opinions on government policy without fear of retribution.
Trump’s travel ban will “sour relations” with the named countries and also others in the Muslim world, says the memo, noting that it will “increase anti-American sentiment”. The memo also states the US will suffer economically and that there is a humanitarian responsibility to allow travel for needs such as medical needs or to attend funerals.
“Looking beyond its effectiveness, this ban stands in opposition to the core American and constitutional values that we, as federal employees, took an oath to uphold,” it reads.
Instead, the memo calls for wider vetting of people from all countries, including holders of US passports, not just the seven Muslim-majority countries named.
Steve Herman, a diplomatic reporter reporter at Voice of America, published a statement from the State Department confirming the authenticity of the memo.
Read the whole draft memo here.
Live video of British MPs discussing the Trump administration and the Trump executive order.
Updated
Coffee giant Starbucks announced overnight a promise to hire 10,000 refugees, in response to Trump’s executive order travel ban.
As Adam Vaughan and Dominic Rushe report:
Howard Schultz, the coffee chain’s chief executive, said he had “deep concern” about the president’s order and would be taking “resolute” action, starting with offering jobs to refugees.
“We are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business,” he told employees in a strongly-worded note.
He added that the move was to make clear the company “will neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new administration’s actions grows with each passing day.”
Read the rest here.
Syrian refugees in Rome have a message for the US president, as criticism grows over Donald Trump’s freeze on America’s refugee program.
Summary
Good morning and welcome to our continuing coverage of the fallout from Donald Trump’s executive order on refugee admission and travel from some Muslim-majority countries.
After a weekend of mass protests and disruption - with people detained at airports, refused entry to planes and removed from the United States - legal challenges continue to be launched, challenging the validity of the order.
“We have a constitutional crisis,” Congressman Don Beyer, a Democrat from Virginia, wrote on Twitter on Sunday after Customs and Border Patrol officials refused to release people from Dulles Airport, despite federal court rulings that temporarily stayed the Trump order.
Having government and public officials abide by the law and court orders is one of the hallmarks of the nation, notes Trevor Timm.
Trump is standing by the ban and the decision to implement it immediately, with no warning:
If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the "bad" would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad "dudes" out there!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017
John Kelly, the new secretary for homeland security, released a statement clarifying that green-card holders, who are legal permanent US residents, will not be affected by the travel ban.
Today, among other things, we’ll be keeping our eye on Trump spokesman Sean Spicer’s 1.30pm ET press briefing, where journalists will be likely quiz him on the ban and the administration’s handling of it.
