White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Wednesday denied reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos clashed over an upcoming executive order expected to weaken protections for transgender students.
“There’s no daylight between anybody, between the President, between any of the secretaries,” Spicer told reporters at his daily press briefing.
He said there has been “some discussion” regarding “the timing of the issuance and recommendations, or between the exact wording,” but that the order’s ultimate conclusions were not at issue.
“I’ve made this clear and the President’s made it clear throughout the campaign that he’s a firm believer in state’s rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level,” Spicer said. “I would expect further guidance to come out on that today.”
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that DeVos told Trump she was uncomfortable with the order, according to three Republicans with direct knowledge of their internal discussions.
Sessions pressed DeVos to sign off on the order since he could not move forward without her consent, according to the report. DeVos capitulated after Trump sided with his attorney general, but asked for the order to stipulate that schools must protect transgender students from bullying.