President Donald Trump invited members of the Little Sisters of the Poor on stage ahead of his signing of a religious liberty executive order Thursday.
“We know, all too well, the attacks against the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Trump said, “Incredible nuns who care for the sick, the elderly and the forgotten.”
“Where are they, by the way, where are they? Could you stand, sisters? Stand,” Trump said, gesturing toward the crowd seated in the White House Rose Garden. “Come on up here, sister, come on up.”
A summary of the executive order given to reporters Wednesday said it would give the IRS discretion to allow religious organizations more leeway to act politically, and that it would authorize “regulatory relief” from Obamacare’s mandate that insurance plans offer contraception, which Little Sisters of the Poor and others have challenged in court for years.
The White House posted the executive order text online Thursday afternoon, after the ceremony had ended.
Trump congratulated the group’s lawyers, and asked if he might hire them for himself.
Watch below:
This post has been updated.
