WH Pushes Back On WaPo Report That Bannon Paid Visit To DHS

Stephen Bannon, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chairman, attends Trump's Hispanic advisory roundtable meeting in New York, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

February 4, 2017 5:14 p.m.

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Update: The Washington Post issued an update to its story on Saturday evening after the White House contested a number of factual assertions in the story.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that Steve Bannon did not make a visit to the Department of Homeland Security in Jan. 28 and that Bannon did not participate in a 2 a.m. phone call on Jan. 29. Spicer also denied that President Donald Trump called for a pause in new executive orders after the rollout of the order barring travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Spicer told the Post that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus put in place new procedures for orders.

“I think we got things wrong in this column,” Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt told the Huffington Post. “That’s why we published an editor’s note and a correction. I regret getting things wrong. We try really hard not to, but we do make mistakes. And when we make mistakes, we try to correct them and be transparent to the readers what we got wrong.”

When Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly set out to exempt green card holders from President Donald Trump’s order barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries, White House adviser Steve Bannon ordered Kelly not to, according to a Saturday report in the Washington Post.

Bannon made a personal visit to the Department of Homeland Security on Jan. 28 to give Kelly the order, but Kelly refused to follow Bannon’s instructions, per the Washington Post.

Following publication of the Post’s story, the White House denied to the Post that Bannon visited the Department of Homeland Security on Jan 28.

Trump’s executive order suspending the United States’ refugee program and temporarily barring visitors from a list of predominantly Muslim countries was met with chaos and protests in U.S. airports. It was at first unclear whether the order included those with green cards, prompting the DHS to clarify. DHS initially said that green cards holders were included in the ban and that they would be allowed into the U.S. on a case-by-case basis. A few days later, the department said that green card holders were exempt from the ban.

A federal judge on Friday night blocked the order nationwide, prompting DHS to stop enforcing the order and the State Department to reverse the cancellation of visas.

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Caitlin Mac Neal (@caitlinmacneal) is TPM's special projects editor, based in Washington, D.C. She first came to TPM as a newswriter, and has written for HuffPost, the Sunlight Foundation and Slate.

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So, we have this.

Editor’s Note: […] After publication, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told The Post that Stephen Bannon did not travel to see Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on the evening of Jan. 28.

And this.

Kelly, according to two administration officials familiar with the confrontation, refused to comply with Bannon’s instruction. That was the beginning of a weekend of negotiations among senior Trump administration staffers that led, on Sunday, to a decision by Trump to temporarily freeze the issuance of executive orders.

Respectfully but firmly, the retired general and longtime Marine told Bannon that despite his high position in the White House and close relationship with Trump, the former Breitbart chief was not in Kelly’s chain of command, two administration officials said. If the president wanted Kelly to back off from issuing the waiver, Kelly would have to hear it from the president directly, he told Bannon.

Bannon left Kelly’s office without getting satisfaction. Trump didn’t call Kelly to tell him to hold off. Kelly issued the waiver late Saturday night, although it wasn’t officially announced until the following day.

Both cannot be true at the same time. So either one of the sides is telling the truth, and the other is lying (and I don’t care about trivial if the conversation was actually face-to-face via President Bannon’s visit to DHS or via phone – I’m only interested in whether this conversation took place or not).

So who is telling the truth?

I know where my money is…

Show Comments

Notable Replies

benthere says:

February 4, 2017

I like it when bulbous, blowhard Bannon is banned!
pandastirfry says:

February 4, 2017

It seems Bannon is having a real hard time remembering that he’s not actually the fucking president!

…no matter how much he wears Trump as a hat.
charliee says:

February 4, 2017

How is it that John Kelly still has a job?
geofu54 says:

February 4, 2017

So, we have this.

Editor’s Note: […] After publication, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told The Post that Stephen Bannon did not travel to see Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on the evening of Jan. 28.

And this.

Kelly, according to two administration officials familiar with the confrontation, refused to comply with Bannon’s instruction. That was the beginning of a weekend of negotiations among senior Trump administration staffers that led, on Sunday, to a decision by Trump to temporarily freeze the issuance of executive orders.

Respectfully but firmly, the retired general and longtime Marine told Bannon that despite his high position in the White House and close relationship with Trump, the former Breitbart chief was not in Kelly’s chain of command, two administration officials said. If the president wanted Kelly to back off from issuing the waiver, Kelly would have to hear it from the president directly, he told Bannon.

Bannon left Kelly’s office without getting satisfaction. Trump didn’t call Kelly to tell him to hold off. Kelly issued the waiver late Saturday night, although it wasn’t officially announced until the following day.

Both cannot be true at the same time. So either one of the sides is telling the truth, and the other is lying (and I don’t care about trivial if the conversation was actually face-to-face via President Bannon’s visit to DHS or via phone – I’m only interested in whether this conversation took place or not).

So who is telling the truth?

I know where my money is…
pshah says:

February 4, 2017

Forget Trump (for now). Impeach Bannon. He is one scary, sick individual and it’s appalling that he’s so close to the center of power. I suspect things will not end well for him.