REPORT: Congressional Staffers Secretly Helped Write Trump Muslim-Ban
Politico is reporting that senior staffers on the House Judiciary Committee secretly helped Donald Trump’s top aides in drafting the Muslim-ban. The Republican committee chairman and other Republican party leadership were not informed.
The report also notes that the staffers were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements with the White House.
Politico said, “The small group of staffers were among the only people on Capitol Hill who knew of the looming controversial policy.”
Which confirms that the Trump Administration did not inform or cooperate with Congress when writing the Muslim-ban Order. If anything, they endeavored to keep it secret by asking a few congressional staffers to help write it without telling their bosses in Congress.
Politico explained, “GOP leaders received no advance warning or briefings from the White House or Judiciary staff on what the executive order would do or how it would be implemented — briefings they still had not received as of Sunday night.”
The Politico report went on to say, “When the order first came down Friday, and reports of problems started to surface, lawmakers frantically called leadership offices and committees staff to ask how to respond. That’s when GOP leadership staffers moved to do damage control — even as the administration ignored their requests for briefings and more information. Frustrated by the administration’s lack of communication to reporters on what the executive order did and didn’t do, they tried to pick up the slack by emphasizing that the ban was not a prohibition on Muslims.”
Politico characterized Capitol Hill Republicans as “privately simmering” that the Trump administration did not seek their expertise. “Most Trump officials lack policy chops and Washington know-how, they argued, and Republicans said they could have been helpful,” the Politico article said.
