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WHITE HOUSE WEIGHING ALL OPTIONS

Trump may issue new travel ban 'within days'

WASHINGTON, February 11, 2017

US President Donald Trump said he is considering issuing a new travel ban executive order and could do so within days, and the administration could still escalate a legal dispute over the original travel ban order to the US Supreme Court.

"We are going to do whatever is necessary to keep our country safe," Trump said earlier Friday during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We'll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country. You'll be seeing that sometime next week," he stated.

The source cautions that the administration believes a new order risks making the current lawsuit "moot," which it may not want to do because it believes it can ultimately win on the merits.

However, a source familiar with the matter told CNN that the Trump administration will not immediately appeal the decision blocking its travel ban to the Supreme Court.

The decision to not go to the Supreme Court comes as the White House is examining several options to save President Donald Trump's controversial executive order on immigration, he stated.

Earlier talking to reporters onboard Air Force One, Trump said: "We will win that battle. The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle. We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order."

Asked if his plan might be to issue a new executive order, he said: "It very well could be. We need speed for reasons of security, so it very well could be."

In the aftermath of a federal appellate court's decisive blow to Trump's move to ban citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries - Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Yemen - from entering the US for 90 days, all refugees for 120 days, and all refugees from Syria indefinitely, the White House is working on "possible tweaks" to the executive order, according to a source in close contact with the White House on national security issues.

Should it write a new order, it would be more narrowly tailored than the one issued two weeks ago, the source said, such as explicitly stating that it does not apply to legal permanent residents.

"We are reviewing all of our options in the court system and confident we will prevail on the merits of the case," an administration official told CNN.

Questions on next steps have swirled since Thursday evening when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift of temporary restraining order on Trump's executive travel ban.

The Justice Department has a variety of options for how to proceed next in court, and Trump insists his administration will ultimately be successful.

"In addition we will continue to go through the court process, and ultimately I have no doubt we'll win that particular case," Trump stated.

The Justice Department might still try to persuade a larger panel of judges on the 9th Circuit to grant its emergency motion to "stay" (i.e., stop) US District Court Judge James Robart's temporary restraining order suspending key provisions of the travel ban.

DOJ could also dismiss its appeal of the temporary restraining order altogether and continue litigating the merits of the case in front of Robart in an attempt to bolster its case.

Additionally, some legal experts believe it may be advantageous for the administration to just write a new executive order to avoid the possibility of the President being subpoenaed over conversations regarding a "Muslim ban," said the source.
 




Tags: muslims | Travel ban | Trump |

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