President Trump tweeted Monday morning that the temporary travel restrictions he wants to place on six Muslim-majority countries are indeed "a travel ban" and criticized the Department of Justice for submitting a "watered down" version of the executive order to the Supreme Court.
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision last month that blocked the administration's revised travel restriction. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled the order "drips with religious intolerance."
That was a revised version of Trump's first executive order with broader reach in January, which was also quickly challenged in the courts.
"People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!" Trump wrote.
People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
Minutes later, he wrote, "The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C." He added the courts are "slow and political" and that "extreme vetting" would help keep the country safe.
The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court - & seek much tougher version!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
After Saturday's terrorist attack in London, Trump wrote "we need the travel ban as an extra level of safety" and that "we must stop being politically correct."
On Jan. 31, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer scolded the press for referring to the executive order as a "travel ban," even though Trump himself called it a ban.
