Today in Trump: February 10, 2017
Today in the Trump Administration
Trump and the travel ban
President Trump seemed to promise new action on his embattled travel ban, after his administration’s request to reinstate the ban was denied by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday evening.
During a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mr. Trump promised, “We’ll be doing something very rapidly, having to do with additional security for our country. You’ll be seeing that some time next week.” Even so, the administration will “continue to go through the court process and I have no doubt we will win that particular case,” he added.
Trump indicates he may sign a new travel ban
President Trump said on Friday that he may sign a brand-new travel ban next week, rather than waiting for the courts to deal with his first one.
Mr. Trump says speed is essential to national security, but his ban was placed on hold last week by a federal judge and Mr. Trump lost a second round Thursday in a Court of Appeals.
Trump tweets on appeals court decision on travel ban
The president sent a tweet early Friday criticizing the ruling, which upheld the temporary restraining order on the ban’s implementation, as a “disgraceful decision.” In his brief social media post, he quoted an article on the Lawfare blog in an attempt to prove his point.
Russian dossier on Trump gaining credibility with law enforcement
CBS News has learned that the 35-page dossier compiled by a former British spy is gaining credibility among law enforcement. Before he was sworn in as President, Donald Trump dismissed the document, but sources tell CBS News that investigators continue to vet it to see whether there is any truth to the allegations.
At issue is whether the Russian government gathered compromising information on the president during his years of doing business in country as a private citizen. The FBI is leading the investigation but several intelligence agencies are also involved. Typically an investigation of this scale would involve the sources and methods of the CIA and NSA.
Flynn might have violated law when he had call about Russian sanctions
Investigators believe that President Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia in a phone call with a Russian official, law enforcement sources told CBS News on Friday.
Multiple sources told CBS News’ Jeff Pegues and Pat Milton that the conversation occurred before Mr. Trump took office and, if true, could be a violation of protocol and could be viewed as a violation of the law.
Major Garrett to reporters: Don’t bail on White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Major Garrett will be attending this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and he hopes other reporters will do the same -- whatever they feel about President Trump.
Penning an op-ed in the Washington Post, CBS News’ chief White House correspondent made the case Friday for journalists to proceed with their regularly scheduled programming, even as some news outlets announced their intentions to boycott the glitzy confab in April.
“The annual gala does not indicate, illustrate or represent the relationship between the White House and the reporters who cover it,” Garrett said of the dinner, which has drawn criticism in the past for how it contributed to the appearance of coziness between the White House and its press corps.
Now Trump has 3 Fed board seats to fill
Federal Reserve board member Daniel Tarullo, a key official guiding bank regulation efforts, will resign this spring, the Fed said Friday.
Tarullo’s decision will clear the way for President Donald Trump to select a candidate for the bank supervision position. Trump is likely to choose someone more in line with his desires to roll back the regulations put in place by the Dodd-Frank Act, which overhauled bank supervision in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Tarullo said in a short resignation letter to Trump that he planned to step down “on or around April 5, 2017.” He did not provide a reason for his decision.
Tom Price confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary
The Senate has confirmed Rep. Tom Price to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The 52-47 vote came just a day after the Senate confirmed Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, as President Trump’s attorney general.
Price, 62, is a Georgia Republican who spent his career as an orthopedic surgeon before entering Congress in 2005. In the last Congress, Price succeeded Paul Ryan -- after he became speaker -- as the chairman of the House Budget Committee, where he laid out budget proposals that called for an Obamacare repeal.
More confirmations votes
Following the vote on the Steven Mnuchin nomination Monday night, the Senate will vote on the nomination of David Shulkin to be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. No procedural vote will be required on the Shulkin nomination.
On Tuesday morning, February 14, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Linda McMahon to serve as the administrator of the Small Business Administration. No procedural vote will be required on the McMahon nomination.
Meeting with Japanese Prime Minister
Trump meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at noon; they hold a joint newser at 1 p.m. and later the Trumps and the Abes have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Trump and Abe will also play a round of golf at the president’s resort.
Before his events with Abe, Mr. Trump will be hosting Sen. Mitch McConnell in the Oval Office at 10 a.m.
Trump backs “one China” policy in call with President Xi, White House says
President Donald Trump has reaffirmed America’s long-standing “one China” policy in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, potentially alleviating concerns about a major shift in Washington’s relations with Beijing.
The White House and China’s state broadcaster CCTV said the two spoke at length by phone on Thursday evening.
What you missed yesterday
9th Circuit will not reinstate travel ban
The 9th Circuit Court will issue its ruling on whether to to reinstate the president’s travel ban -- the appeals court heard arguments on Tuesday, and its decision is coming before close of business.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals announced it will not reinstate President Trump’s 90-day ban on travelers from seven countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. The government had asked for a stay of a temporary restraining order that suspended the implementation of the travel ban.
“[T]he emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied,” the court’s ruling concluded.
Therefore travelers from the seven countries will continue to be allowed into the U.S., pending further legal action.
Mexican foreign minister helped Jared Kushner re-write Trump border wall speech
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray personally made changes to President Donald Trump’s speech announcing an executive order calling for the construction of a border wall, according to Mexican officials.
When Videgaray came to the White House in January, on the same day that Mr. Trump was to sign the executive order, Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and the president’s son-in-law, showed him the speech Mr. Trump planned to deliver that day at the Homeland Security Department. Videgaray was horrified, according to the Mexican officials, and deemed the speech a non-starter.
Jeff Sessions’ claim about violent crime contradicted by FBI data
Jeff Sessions was sworn in as attorney general Thursday morning, one day after he was confirmed by the Senate in a contentious vote.
The 70-year-old is a former prosecutor and served the last 20 years as a senator from Alabama.
In the Oval Office, Sessions made a remark about crime that caught our attention.
Trump tweets on Blumenthal
President Trump attacked Sen. Richard Blumenthal in tweets early Thursday, following the Connecticut Democrat’s remarks about his meeting with Judge Neil Gorsuch, Mr. Trump’s pick to be a Supreme Court justice.
The president accused Blumenthal of “misrepresenting” Gorsuch’s comments, after the senator reported that the conservative judge had expressed disappointment over Mr. Trump’s latest comments about the court system.
Trump blasts McCain
President Trump hit longtime critic John McCain in a series of tweets early Thursday morning, following the Arizona senator’s comments about the recent “failure” of a raid in Yemen, which killed a U.S. military service member and at least 30 others.
The president lambasted the Republican veteran for talking about the Navy SEAL Team 6 mission, saying it “only emboldens the enemy.” Mr. Trump declared that McCain, a six-term senator and former presidential nominee, had been “losing so...long he doesn’t know how to win anymore.”
Trump signs executive orders on crime, law enforcement
President Trump signed three executive orders Thursday aimed at bolstering law enforcement and targeting violent crime and criminal drug cartels.
Attorney general
The president and vice president swore in Jeff Sessions as attorney general at the White House at 10:30 a.m.
Airline CEOS, Democratic senators at White House
The president had breakfast with airline CEOs at 9:30 a.m.
He had lunch at the White House with Democratic Senators Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, Jon Tester and Joe Donnelly.
Gorsuch meetings
Judge Gorsuch met with Sens. Susan Collins, 10:15 a.m., Steve Daines, 11:15 a.m., Lisa Murkowski, 2:45 p.m., and Thom Tillis, 4 p.m.
