Statement calling for “total and complete shutdown on Muslims” entering U.S. removed from Trump campaign website Monday afternoon
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 5-8-2017
This story may be updated.
Minutes after a reporter asked White House press secretary Sean Spicer why President Donald Trump’s campaign website still broadcast his call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” that page went blank, according to reports on Monday afternoon.
Minutes after we asked the WH why the President’s campaign website still calls for a Muslim ban, it appears the statement was deleted https://t.co/BBX9oiIczx
— Cecilia Vega (@CeciliaVega) May 8, 2017
Moments after Spicer was asked about this Trump campaign page calling for a Muslim ban, it went blank. But Wayback Machine still has it pic.twitter.com/OAQnVNwpdi
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) May 8, 2017
Trump’s call for a Muslim ban figures prominently in arguments against his second executive order blocking entry to the United States for people from six majority-Muslim countries. Opponents like Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, say statements like that one “made absolutely clear that [Trump] wanted to target Muslims.”
Lawyers for both sides argued their cases “en banc” on Monday afternoon, before a panel of all active and eligible judges of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Judges in Maryland and Hawaii had previously halted implementation of the order, specifically citing Trump’s past statements while he was on the campaign trail. Monday’s hearing is over the Maryland ruling; the Trump administration’s challenge to the Hawaii decision will be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle next Monday.
“In the Maryland case,” the Los Angeles Times wrote in March, “U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang’s decision quoted Trump’s campaign vows to suspend Muslim immigration as evidence that ‘the national security purpose is not the primary purpose of the travel ban’.” Judge Derrick K. Watson, in Hawaii, quoted Trump’s “total and complete shutdown” press release in his decision, saying there was “nothing ‘veiled'” about it.
Meanwhile, Fourth Circuit judges also brought up Trump’s campaign statements on Monday, according to reports from the hearing:
DOJ lawyer: Trump’s campaign statements on travel ban are “ambiguous.” Judges: Muslim ban was on Trump’s campaign website today. #IRAPvTrump
— Jaweed Kaleem (@jaweedkaleem) May 8, 2017
4th Circuit’s Judge King points out that Trump “never repudiated” his campaign trail call for a Muslim ban after taking office.
— Alice Ollstein (@AliceOllstein) May 8, 2017
Judge brings up the Muslim Ban press release on Trump’s campaign site. I feel like it getting zeroed out today will do more harm than good.
— Parker Higgins (@xor) May 8, 2017
Trump admin argues in court re Muslim ban that POTUS campaign statements shouldnt matter. But Muslim ban was on his website until today
— Dafna Linzer (@DafnaLinzer) May 8, 2017
Court: Trump has never repudiated what he said about Muslim Ban. It is STILL on his website!
— Jackie Vimo (@JackieVimo) May 8, 2017
Key issues in #MuslimBan hearing: should we consider only text of order, or do we determine President’s intent from his campaign statements?
— Jackie Vimo (@JackieVimo) May 8, 2017
Advocacy groups were expected to hold a press conference following the hearing.
The courtroom in Richmond, Virginia wasn’t the only place where Trump’s Muslim Ban 2.0 was litigated on Monday. Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both of Texas, also grilled former acting Attorney General Sally Yates about her refusal to defend the order.
Watch below:
BOOM! Yates wouldn’t defend Muslim ban because arguments “have to be based on truth. We’re not just a law firm, we’re the DOJ” #YatesHearing pic.twitter.com/UYwHwL8N2r
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) May 8, 2017
OH MY GOD Sally Yates just SCHOOLED Ted Cruz on the Muslim ban. KA-BOOOM! #YatesHearing pic.twitter.com/n0nyaguBdY
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) May 8, 2017