Department of Homeland Security secretary John Kelly shouldered the blame on Tuesday for the chaotic rollout of President Donald Trump’s executive order barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
“In retrospect, I should have, this is all on me by the way, I should have delayed it just a bit so that I could talk to members of Congress,” Kelly said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on border security. “Particularly to the leadership of committees like this, to prepare them for what was coming.”
He said that he “should have slowed” the order’s implementation down by a day or two.
“If something happens bad from letting people in, they don’t come to the judge to ask them about his ruling. They come to people like me,” Kelly said. “I have nothing but respect for our judges, but they live in a different world than I do. I’m paid to worst-case it.”