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:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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]
You can read more about Trump's meeting at The Washington Post.
-
The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago.
-
‘Never more precarious’: the UN turns 80The Explainer It’s an unhappy birthday for the United Nations, which enters its ninth decade in crisis
-
Trump’s White House ballroom: a threat to the republic?Talking Point Trump be far from the first US president to leave his mark on the Executive Mansion, but to critics his remodel is yet more overreach
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
