Seattle judge says Trump travel ban case can proceed in lower court

SEATTLE –  A lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota challenging President Donald Trump's travel ban will proceed as an appellate court considers a preliminary injunction in the case, a federal judge ruled Monday in Seattle.
The Justice Department had wanted to put the case on hold while the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decides whether a larger, 11-judge panel will review a government request to allow the ban.
But U.S. District Judge James Robart, who previously issued a temporary restraining order halting the ban, said the lawsuit can go forward. The states said that process wouldn't interfere with review by appellate courts.
Robart directed both sides to prepare for their arguments on whether Trump's travel ban should be permanently blocked.
A three-judge federal appeals court panel last week refused to toss out the injunction and reinstate the travel ban. The panel unanimously rejected the administration's claim of presidential authority in the matter.
Washington and Minnesota argued that formal evidence gathering should begin immediately in the case.
"Given the gravity of the states' constitutional allegations, defendants' stated national security concerns and the public interests at stake, the states respectfully submit that discovery should proceed without delay," the state lawyers said in a legal brief.
Michelle Bennett, a Justice Department lawyer, told Robart there was no basis for speeding up the process, arguing the states are not being harmed because there's a temporary injunction in place.
She asked Robart to stick with a previous schedule that gives the government until April 3 to file a response to the states' complaint. Robart said he was "surprised" by that statement, since the president had said he wants to "see you in court."
After the 9th Circuit panel ruled against the Justice Department, Trump sent out a tweet saying, "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"
Robart said there is a "very sensitive time issue" in the case and he wasn't prepared to slow it down.
Last week, the three-judge appellate panel sided with Washington and Minnesota, which say the ban illegally targets Muslims. Justice Department lawyers say it is intended to prevent terrorism and can't be second-guessed by courts.
Trump's ban temporarily suspended the nation's refugee program and immigration from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen — nations that have sparked terrorism concerns.
In deciding whether to put Trump's order on hold, the three-judge panel said the administration presented no evidence that any foreigner from the seven countries was responsible for a terrorist attack in the U.S.
Trump's initial executive order sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained.

Three candidates emerge to replace Flynn as national security adviser

President Trump’s embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned Monday night and three names have emerged as possible replacements.
Vice Adm. Bob Harward is one name that has come up to replace Flynn as national security adviser, and the leading candidate to get the job, a senior official told Fox News.
Harward is a U.S. Navy SEAL, but also has a previous relationship with Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Harward was the deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command under Mattis and was also the deputy commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command.
He also served on the National Security Council for President George W. Bush and commissioned the National Counter Terrorism Center.
TRUMP’S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER MICHAEL FLYNN RESIGNS
White House sources described Harward as the “toughest guy in the SEALs” and a “real rock.”
A senior administration official added that if Howard is the choice to replace Flynn, he could be in place by the end of the week.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr. has been floated as a permanent replacement for Flynn. Trump named him the acting national security adviser after Flynn resigned.
Kellogg is a decorated U.S. Army veteran, having served from 1967 to 2003. He earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with “V” device and the Air Medal with “V” device during his time in the Vietnam War.
Kellogg was chief operating officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, the interim governing body following the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. He previously worked as executive vice president of research and technology for Virginia-based information technology firm CACI International, which works as a contractor for defense, intelligence and homeland security agencies.
Another name floated as a possible replacement for Flynn is retired Gen. David Petraeus.
Trump routinely dropped Petraeus’ name during his election campaign. Trump said that Petraeus was punished more severely for leaking classified documents to his mistress than Hillary Clinton was punished for setting up a private email server during his time as Secretary of State.
READ: MICHAEL FLYNN’S LETTER OF RESIGNATION AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER
Petraeus was briefly considered for the secretary of state job, but was passed up because of his rocky tenure as CIA chief and the possibility that he wouldn’t be confirmed in the Senate because of those issues.
According to the Washington Examiner, Bush’s former national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Tom Bossert, a former national security aide under Bush have been considered a Flynn’s replacement. The paper added that Adm. James Stavridis, a dean at Tufts University, is also on the table.
Flynn’s resignation ended speculation about his fate following reports he had misled Vice President Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia.
Flynn conceded that discussions of sanctions may have come up during several calls with the Russian ambassador during the transition period leading up to Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.
He acknowledged that he gave "incomplete information" about those discussions to Pence who, apparently relying on information from the national security adviser, initially said Flynn had not discussed sanctions with the Russian envoy.
Whoever emerges as Trump's choice will take the helm of the National Security Council at a time when the young administration is grappling with a series of national security challenges, including North Korea's reported ballistic missile launch. The president, who was joined at his Mar-a-Lago estate by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the weekend, voiced solidarity with Japan.
The White House is also dealing with fallout from the rocky rollout of Trump's immigration executive order, which has been blocked by the courts. The order was intended to suspend the nation's refugee program and bar citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn resigns

President Trump’s embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned Monday night, after days of controversy over his past contact with the Russian ambassador.
Flynn, in his resignation letter, wrote that he "inadvertently" briefed top officials with incomplete information regarding a call with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
"I have sincerely apologized to the president and the vice president, and they have accepted my apology," the letter read.
Vice President Mike Pence, after being briefed by Flynn, said in television interviews that Flynn had not discussed sanctions with the ambassador, although Flynn later admitted the issue may have been raised.
Flynn, separately, told Fox News in an email: "I have nothing to be ashamed for and everything to be proud of."
Trump has named Lt. Gen Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr., as his acting national security adviser.
The White House earlier said Trump was "evaluating the situation" regarding Flynn's conversations with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., deepening the uncertainty surrounding Flynn's future in the new administration.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump was consulting with Pence about his conversations with the national security adviser. Asked whether the president had been aware that Flynn might discuss sanctions with the Russian envoy, Spicer said, "No, absolutely not."
VIDEO: WHAT FLYNN FLAP REVEALS ABOUT TRUMP'S INNER CIRCLE
Trump, who comments on a steady stream of issues on his Twitter feed, has been conspicuously silent about the matter since The Washington Post reported last week that Flynn had discussed sanctions with the Russian envoy. A U.S. official told The Associated Press that Flynn was in frequent contact with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on the day the Obama administration slapped sanctions on Russia for election-related hacking, as well as at other times during the transition.
Earlier Monday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Trump had "full confidence" in Flynn, though her assertions were not backed up by other senior Trump aides. Spicer would say only that Flynn was continuing to carry out "his daily functions."
The conflicting signals created confusion at the White House, with reporters crowding around Spicer's office for hours Monday afternoon seeking information on Flynn's future.

criminal illegal alien cartoons

Illegal immigrants signal they would prefer detention over deportation

Assistant to Trump: ICE is simply enforcing existing law

All but one of about 50 undocumented Mexican migrants at a meeting Saturday indicated they would rather risk detention and long court battles in the U.S. than return to Mexico voluntarily.
The majority of migrants at the meeting in Phoenix, which included Mexican officials, signaled in a show of hands that they were ready to fight deportation in U.S. courts.
“Even if that means detention for weeks?” asked former foreign minister Jorge Castaneda.
“Even if it takes months,” shouted one woman. “Even if it takes years,” another yelled. “We are here to fight.”
Mr. Castaneda and others want Mexico’s government to endorse a tough and perhaps risky strategy to battle an expected increase in deportations of their undocumented compatriots in the U.S. by underwriting the migrants’ legal struggle in the U.S. court system. By overwhelming already heavily burdened immigration courts, Mr. Castaneda hopes the legal system would break down, bringing deportations to a halt.
Mexico’s government hasn’t endorsed the strategy, but President Enrique Peña Nieto recently budgeted about $50 million to the country’s 50 consulates to help pay the costs of defending migrants who are in the U.S. illegally and facing deportation.
Some are worried that President Donald Trump has decided to expand the type of undocumented migrants who are at risk of being deported, from the violent or dangerous people that the Obama administration targeted to migrants who have had minor brushes with law enforcement.
Mr. Trump on Sunday called it a “crackdown on illegal criminals,” adding in an early morning tweet that “Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!”
The Phoenix meeting took place two days after the deportation of a Guadalupe García, a 36-year-old Mexican who lived in the U.S. for 22 years and has two U.S.-born children. Ms. García’s removal stoked panic and protests in immigrant communities.

oy Villa's music sales skyrocket after singer dons pro-Trump dress to Grammys

Joy Villa's music sales skyrocketed after the singer wore a pro-Trump dress at Sunday night's 59th annual Grammy Awards. When she arrived at the Grammys, Villa flung off a white frock to reveal a gown of patriotic red, white and blue that urged "Make America Great Again" and had "Trump" in sparkly letters on the back hem.
The 25-year-old's EP "I Make the Static" jumped to the top of Amazon's top digital paid albums and reached number seven on the iTunes top album chart after her red carpet appearance.
The singer explained her controversial look on Instagram.
"Go big, or go home. You can either stand for what you believe or fall for what you don't. Above all make a choice for tolerance and love. Agree to disagree," she wrote after her red carpet appearance.
The dress' designer, Andre Soriano, said on Instagram the gown is a "tribute [to] OUR President Of The United States Of America" adding the hashtag #MAGA.
Villa's look quickly prompted support from fans but she was also accused of trying to get attention.

DeVos attacks continue; critics incorrectly blame her for Twitter typo

Internet trolls on Sunday blamed new Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for a typo on the department’s Twitter feed that misspelled the name of a prominent African-American sociologist, but a spokesman said the mistake was made by a longtime employee.
The tweet included a quotation attributed to W.E.B. Du Bois that incorrectly spelled the sociologist’s last name with an "e."
The mistake immediately drew hundreds of responses mocking the department's misspelling.
DeVos, a wealthy political donor, was confirmed last week as President Trump’s pick for Education secretary.
But she faced a difficult Senate confirmation process in large part because of her support for voucher programs and other alternatives to public education and because she purportedly never taught in a public school.
On Friday, DeVos’ third full day on the job, she was temporarily blocked by protesters from entering a District of Columbia public school.
By midday Sunday, the U.S. Education Department had posted a new tweet with the correct spelling and an apology. However, the post drew another round of critics because it included another typo, which was later fixed.
One commenter tweeted: "I love that your initial apology for a typo included a typo. We don't need any further proof that DeVos runs this account." 
Another post urged further rebuke by urging people to “make this go viral.”
Still, the department under DeVos leadership received some support amid the dozens of negative comments.
“As a public school teacher, it's important to embrace failures and learn from them. Slow down, it isn't a race. Proofreading helps,” one person wrote.
A spokesman for the Education Department said Sunday the misspellings had been made by a longtime department employee. He said a new review process was being put in place with additional staff to prevent future tweet errors.

Trump ally rips into Priebus, blames him for chaotic travel ban rollout

A longtime friend of Donald Trump said Sunday that the president should make some changes and the first move should be firing his chief of staff.
Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media, said in interviews with several news outlets that Reince Priebus was in over his head and blamed him for the poor rollout of Trump’s travel ban. He added that order in the White House might not be restored until Priebus leaves.
“It’s my view that Reince is the problem. I think on paper Reince looked good as the chief of staff — and Donald trusted him — but it’s pretty clear the guy is in way over his head,” Ruddy told The Washington Post.
“He’s not knowledgeable of how federal agencies work, how the communications operations work. He botched this whole immigration rollout. This should’ve been a win for Donald, not two or three weeks of negative publicity.”
Ruddy tweeted that he and Trump talked over drinks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort late Friday, but Ruddy insisted he was only speaking for himself, and not Trump.
Ruddy spoke with The Post shortly after he told CNN he thought there was “a lot of weakness coming out of the chief of staff.”
Ruddy attempted to walk some of the comments he made on network, saying in a tweet that Priebus had briefed him on some of the "impressive" new White House plans. He also tweeted that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, was doing a terrific job.
According to the New York Times, Ruddy had told Priebus that he would stand by his criticisms, but would “meet up and have dinner in the near future.”
The White House defended the chief of staff after Ruddy’s comments.
“The president has made unbelievable progress in just his first 21 days, bringing back jobs, saving taxpayers money and securing the nation. Reince has successfully led the team that has implemented President Trump’s agenda,” White House deputy communications director Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Another senior White House official told the paper whether Ruddy’s comments were relevant, saying “This sounds like somebody with an ax to grind who has no real access to the president.”
Though Ruddy had criticism for Priebus, he sang the praises of White House press secretary Sean Spicer and other administration officials who were scrutinized about the travel ban.