Trump Criticizes His Own Justice Dept. In Tweets About Travel Ban

FILE - In this May 4, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. A luxury Caribbean property Trump purchased four years ago is for sale, raising the possibilit... FILE - In this May 4, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. A luxury Caribbean property Trump purchased four years ago is for sale, raising the possibility that a buyer could see it as a way to get on the president’s radar. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump on Monday morning lashed out at his own Justice Department for offering a “watered down” version of the executive order barring travel to the United States from certain majority Muslim countries after courts blocked the administration’s initial order.

Trump’s tweets about his so-called travel ban came after he promoted his executive order in a Sunday morning series of tweets about the weekend terror attack in London.

In the Monday morning tweets, Trump said that he wished his administration had fought for the original executive order and called on the Justice Department to seek a “much tougher version” of the travel ban. He also notably described the order as a “travel ban,” a term that his administration has dismissed.

Trump’s revised travel ban has been held up in federal courts despite the administration’s effort to craft a new executive order that courts might allow to proceed. The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court last week to reinstate the travel ban order.

Court orders staying both the initial and the revised travel bans have cited Trump’s comments, including those he made on the campaign trail, about a Muslim ban. In its decision upholding a block on Trump’s initial order, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that states raised “serious allegations” about religious discrimination and indicated that courts could use Trump’s past comments to determine the administration’s intentions in crafting the executive order.

In its ruling late last month upholding a block on Trump’s revised travel ban, the chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the executive order “drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.” The court wrote that it’s possible states could prove, using past comments from Trump and his aides, that Trump wrote the executive order with a Muslim ban in mind.

The President’s Monday morning tweetstorm followed more tempered remarks about the London terror attack on Sunday night. Speaking at the Ford’s Theatre Annual Gala, Trump offer his support to the United Kingdom and said that the United States would try to help “bring those that are guilty to justice,” according to the White House pool report.

“We renew our resolve, stronger than ever before, to protect the United States and its allies from a vile enemy that has waged war on innocent life. And it has gone on too long. This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end,” Trump said, per the pool report. “As president I will do what is necessary is to prevent this threat from spreading to our shores.”

This post has been updated.

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