White House omits Trump agreeing to 'clean' DACA bill from transcript, calls it accidental

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 10 January 2018

President Trump surprised White House aides when he invited the press in to watch him negotiate immigration policy with Democrats and Republicans for 55 minutes on Tuesday, and the point seemed to be "to show that he could do his job," The Washington Post reports, after a week dominated by the Michael Wolff book Fire and Fury, which suggests otherwise. Trump "demonstrated stability, although not necessarily capability," write Post reporters Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker, and he left his audience with "a cliffhanger": What is going on with immigration legislation?

At one point, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Trump if he would support "a clean DACA bill now, with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive immigration reform procedure," and Trump replied, "Yeah, I would like to do that. I think a lot of people would like to see that." Senate Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), looking alarmed, jumped in to explain that a "clean" DACA bill would solve only the DREAMer issue, not border security.

By the end, Trump appeared to agree with McCarthy. "I think a clean DACA bill to me is a DACA bill, but we take care of the 800,000 people," Trump said. "But I think to me, a clean bill is a bill of DACA — we take care of them, and we also take care of security." Still, the Post notes:

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McCarthy apparently was not the only one concerned by Trump’s seeming agreement with Feinstein. When the White House released its official transcript Tuesday afternoon, the president’s line — “Yeah, I would like to do it” — was missing. A White House official said that any omission from the transcript was unintentional and that the context of the conversation was clear. [The Washington Post]

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.