Sean Spicer on Why Trump Called Exec Order a ‘Ban’: ‘He’s Using the Words the Media’s Using’
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer insisted today that referring to President Trump‘s executive order as a “ban” is inaccurate, even though the president did exactly that yesterday.
He said Trump has “made it very clear this is not a Muslim ban, it’s not a travel ban, it’s a vetting system to keep America safe. That’s it, plain and simple.”
With so many people still able to come into the country, Spicer argued, it’s misleading to refer to it as a ban.
NBC’s Kristen Welker followed up a bit later by highlighting this Trump tweet:
If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the "bad" would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad "dudes" out there!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017
Spicer responded, “He’s using the words that the media is using… It can’t be a ban if you’re letting a million people in.”
Welker asked if either he or the president is confused about this language issue. Spicer insisted again that the president’s language is derived “from what the media is calling this.”
Spicer also got a bit feisty over some of the reporting that’s gone on over the executive order, particularly over when DHS Secretary John Kelly knew about the implementation.
UPDATE –– 2:46 pm ET: Spicer himself used the word ban yesterday:
Sean Spicer on Monday at GWU:
"One, the ban deals with seven countries…"
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) January 31, 2017
Watch above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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