Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Trump, held a press gaggle outside the White House.
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00:00Hello, everybody. I've got time for just a few questions.
00:02Can you give us an update on the travel bans, please?
00:05I don't have any specific update on the travel bans,
00:08but as you know, the president issued an executive order
00:13on his first day in office asking for the State Department
00:18to assess travel conditions, safety issues,
00:21national security issues around the globe.
00:23And under that requirement, they were asked to send a report,
00:27which we should be receiving soon, to the White House,
00:30that will provide those recommendations
00:32that we eagerly look forward to receiving.
00:34This is an update on the actions that Mexico has taken on the border.
00:38What do you think of them?
00:40Is the president considering lifting those fentanyl-related tariffs
00:43in a couple of weeks here without cause for concern?
00:47I don't have an update to provide right now on that.
00:50Obviously, because of President Trump's diplomacy and leadership,
00:54Mexico, since inauguration,
00:56has significantly increased the presence of troops on the border,
00:59has taken numerous actions that the U.S. government is asking to take
01:02with respect to immigration enforcement and border security.
01:07The two most significant issues, of course,
01:10that imperil our safety and security right now
01:14are fentanyl and the cartels,
01:16and obviously the president is expecting the government of Mexico
01:18to take a lot more action urgently in those two areas.
01:21And when we have a proper support to give you on that, we will.
01:23Is it possible that we can see both the reciprocal tariffs, Stephen,
01:26and the fentanyl tariffs remain in place on Mexico,
01:28or both on the table right now?
01:30I don't want to provide any updates right now on that,
01:32except to say when we have more information on the fentanyl and cartels,
01:36we will be glad to.
01:37Stephen, the White House has released videos and images
01:40of these alleged gang members who were detained and deported.
01:42Why not release their names?
01:44Well, they are actually foreign terrorists
01:47and alien enemies of the United States.
01:49And everything that we do is for operational security reasons.
01:52We are dealing with one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations
01:56on planet Earth.
01:58They inflict pain for the support of it.
02:02They relish in torture and murder.
02:06They relish in inflicting maximum physical suffering
02:10on their targets and victims.
02:12They're even more ruthless and violent than MS-13.
02:16And so operational security and public safety and national security
02:19are always going to guide any decisions that are made in this regard.
02:23Stephen, I'm from Australia.
02:24I'm from Australia.
02:25There's a lot of interest back home in why the President
02:27ultimately decided not to give Australia an exemption
02:30to the steel tariffs after saying that he would greatly consider it.
02:34And secondly, should Australia export a lot of beef to the US,
02:38billions of dollars worth,
02:39should we now expect tariffs on beef to come in the next round?
02:43Well, no updates to give on that except to say that the health of our
02:47and the strength of our steel and aluminum industries
02:49is essential for our national security and our defense industrial base.
02:53Do you have a question?
02:54If things go your way in court this afternoon regarding the Enemies Act,
02:57how many more flights do you anticipate would head towards El Salvador
03:01in the coming days?
03:03Well, I'm not going to reveal details of the President's full plan
03:07and the administration's full plan with respect to the dismantlement
03:10and eradication of TDA.
03:13But a few points on this.
03:14One is that the President reserves the right to exercise all necessary authorities
03:19to secure the homeland and to repel any invasion or incursion.
03:24The judge, which is truly beyond comprehension and belief,
03:29issued his unlawful order without even receiving any information
03:33on this terrorist organization,
03:35on the diplomacy that had been conducted internationally
03:39by the Secretary of State,
03:41any briefing from the intelligence community,
03:44any information at all,
03:46let alone the fact that he's trying to issue the movement of aircraft
03:52that are operating outside the United States,
03:55the legal equivalent of directing troop movements overseas
04:00or moving around an aircraft carrier on matters of essential national security.
04:06It is certainly, I would think without question,
04:08the most unlawful order that any district court judge has issued in our lifetimes
04:13without even a close second.
04:14And it put the lives in danger of the homeland security personnel on those aircraft,
04:21and it jeopardized enormous, massive diplomatic and security issues
04:28across the entirety of the Western Hemisphere.
04:30At a fundamental level, a district court judge has no authority
04:34to direct the national security operations of the executive branch.
04:37The president is operating at the apex of his authority
04:40when you are dealing with questions of invasion
04:43and questions of alien enemy infiltration,
04:46as well as the expulsion of terrorist illegal aliens from the country.
04:51That's the president operating at the absolute apex of his constitutional authority.
04:55And the founding generation that wrote this law very clearly,
05:00these are the same people who wrote the Constitution,
05:02very clearly wanted to ensure the president had the broadest range of authority
05:08to remove from the nation non-citizens who are part of an alien enemy force.
05:13And that's the authority the president has.
05:15And in the coming days, you will see the full suite of presidential authorities
05:19used to extirpate this gang, this terrorist organization from our soil.
05:24So should other Americans be concerned they'll be deported without due process?
05:28We'll use the word Americans.
05:30We're talking about illegal alien foreign terrorists.
05:33So illegal alien foreign terrorists should be concerned
05:35that they will be deported from the country,
05:37because they will be deported from the country.
05:39Yes?
05:40Is the president set on the 200% tariffs on European wines and spirits?
05:45And what can he do to make those tariffs go away?
05:48I won't be making any further announcement on tariffs today.
05:51The president has made his statements on tariffs.
05:53And the whole world is on notice that we are going to be treated fairly in this country economically.
05:58We're going to bring back our manufacturing base.
06:00We're going to bring back our jobs.
06:02President Trump's not going to let anyone take advantage of us anymore.
06:05You said the judge's order was illegal.
06:07Is it because the TRO was illegal that the planes didn't turn around
06:10for the oral order from the judge?
06:12The actions of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense
06:20were not in conflict with the judge's order.
06:23But at the same time, it is also true that the judge's order was patently unlawful
06:27and beyond unlawful, it was an outrageous assault on the Constitution,
06:31an outrageous assault on the sovereignty of the nation, and on democracy itself.
06:36The American people elected a president on an explicit promise.
06:40By the way, for those of you who followed the campaign,
06:42how many times was the Alien Enemies Act discussed in the campaign?
06:46Is one of you unaware of this? Not one of you is.
06:49This was discussed extensively in the campaign.
06:52Going back even to the primary, on Agenda 47,
06:57walking through the use of the Alien Enemies Act,
07:00the American people voted for this specific action to occur,
07:04and it has occurred, and it is occurring, and it will continue to occur.
07:07And the idea that a single district court judge has the authority to direct,
07:12as though they were the president, the movement of airplanes around the globe
07:17is, again, it is the most outrageous thing I have seen from a district court judge in my lifetime,
07:22but frankly, going back multiple lifetimes.
07:24To that point, does the president believe that he needs the Enemies Act
07:27to successfully remove these individuals?
07:30The president has a vast array of authorities to remove illegal aliens.
07:34The Alien Enemies Act provides particular and additional authorities
07:40to achieve these removals as quickly and as expeditiously as possible.
07:45But most importantly, it allows it to occur in a way
07:49that ensures the lowest level of risk for the American people,
07:52the least possibility of individuals absconding, escaping,
07:57or otherwise frustrated in their removal.
08:00Stephen, we've all heard President Trump mentioning Colombia
08:03and mentioning when President of Colombia didn't want to accept those deportation flights
08:08as an example of what they shouldn't do.
08:11Is the relationship with Colombia back to its good place again after that?
08:16My understanding is that we have full, unrestricted cooperation on migration with Colombia.
08:25Stephen, so the president last night said that President Biden's pardons
08:29with those involved in January 6th committee are void.
08:32Does it mean that he might have plans to further investigate
08:35either January 6th or in 2020 election results?
08:39This is an important point, by the way.
08:41It's not just that the pardons were signed with an auto pen.
08:46It's that clearly the former president, Joe Biden,
08:50had absolutely no awareness of or any clue about what was being signed in his name
08:54when he's on a beach in Delaware doing God knows what.
08:57In other words, you have all these instances where you can show
09:00that something was signed by an auto pen
09:02when Joe Biden was not even physically present or aware around at all.
09:05And so the accumulation of evidence makes it clear that Joe Biden
09:08had no awareness, no knowledge, no participation,
09:11frankly, in the administration of government for four years,
09:13but in particular, in this case, with respect to his pardons,
09:15which then means, of course, the Department of Justice
09:17has its own authorities to pursue.
09:20Any other questions?
09:21Stephen, on the same note, are you aware of any investigations
09:24that the president has called for into any of the people
09:27who were on the January 6th committee?
09:30Well, I mean, the president has been clear probably for a long time
09:34about his view about the misconduct that has occurred.
09:37For example, the erasure of all of the records,
09:40what can only be described as one of the most preposterous cover-ups
09:44that we've ever seen.
09:45And again, the Department of Justice has its own authorities
09:48and is able to pursue those under the direction of the attorney general.
09:52Any other questions?
09:53I have a question about legal immigration.
09:55Are you thinking of changing the rules for water systems,
09:58mail-in-place visas, and what would you be making of those?
10:01Well, no update on that today,
10:02although we did get a question earlier about the travel ban
10:06and the national security issues that will be coming to the fore soon.
10:09Yes?
10:10I had a question on that.
10:11Can you give us a sense of the scope you're considering
10:13with the potential travel ban?
10:14And then for a country like Afghanistan,
10:16are there any considerations being made for people who help the United States?
10:19Well, I'm not able to get into details or countries or anything.
10:22This is all very premature.
10:24And for those of you who are familiar with this from the previous administration,
10:28it's a security assessment that's been made on a wide variety of factors.
10:32Do they accept their deportees?
10:35Do they share security information?
10:37Do they have good biometrics?
10:39Do they have control over their own territory?
10:42Do they engage in intelligence sharing?
10:45There's a wide variety of assessments that go into the determination.
10:48Any other questions?
10:49Let me take two questions.
10:50What do they do to shoot these guys' heads on television or video tape?
10:55Well, they're in the custody of a foreign government now,
10:58so this question is best directed to a foreign government
11:01that has agreed to accept custody of deported aliens,
11:05which is one of many important features of our system of international law
11:09is that when you have a country that has issues with the United States,
11:16as, for example, Venezuela does,
11:18that other countries can accept third-party nationals.
11:21Just to clarify on this,
11:22did Venezuela say they would not take them back?
11:24I have no update to provide on the U.S. foreign policy with respect to Venezuela,
11:32but, again, the United States, when it's conducting reports,
11:35has always had the ability, if you're here illegally,
11:38to be sent to a willing country to accept you,
11:40and that country has its own processes and procedures
11:43consistent with its own international legal obligations with respect to custody.
11:48Any other questions?
11:49But the flights to Venezuela, are they going to continue,
11:52like paid for by Maduro, as he said?
11:54It's our expectation that we will be receiving.
11:58The president put out a post a short time ago
12:01saying that he didn't book the flights to Venezuela,
12:04that we're not fast enough,
12:06and we hope that we'll have an opinion on that soon
12:08and that we'll obtain full cooperation.
12:10Any further questions?
12:11Just a quick question on the difference between the written order and a verbal order.
12:14Caroline was asked about this in the briefing,
12:16and she sort of suggested that maybe the administration
12:19doesn't necessarily view these as having the same weight.
12:22Is it the administration's understanding
12:24that you would comply with the verbal order?
12:26Well, the whole thing is just preposterous.
12:29So, as the Department of Justice has said in writing,
12:33nothing the administration did conflicted with the court order.
12:37But there's a bigger issue here,
12:38which is the court order is patently unlawful,
12:42and if we got into a place in this country where district court judges,
12:45who could, for example, help us do our work,
12:48could interfere and direct specific targeting or non-targeting
12:53in, say, who to control territory,
12:55could direct which general on the battlefield
12:58is going to be in charge of making which decisions,
13:00could direct, for example,
13:01who we can send this military asset to this country,
13:05but not this country,
13:07could direct what intelligence we can share
13:09with Israel versus with Saudi Arabia.
13:13If a district court judge can be involved in the conduct of a foreign policy,
13:17under no definition do we have a democracy in this country.
13:20I mean, not to get too philosophical,
13:22but for a long time in this country,
13:25power has been concentrated principally in two areas,
13:31the unelected bureaucracy and the unelected judiciary,
13:35and power has been increasingly concentrated in these two areas.
13:38And in the case of the hard left,
13:41the judiciary takes steps to protect the bureaucracy,
13:45and that further, it shrinks the circle in which democracy is occurring.
13:49So take an example just like firing recalcitrant bureaucrats.
13:53So bureaucrats serve at the pleasure of the president,
13:55the president is elected by the American people.
13:57So you have unelected judges taking the jobs of unelected bureaucrats
14:01to pursue their own policy preferences.
14:03So when Americans vote for big shifts in policy,
14:05they're voting for the president.
14:07So we tend to think about executive power
14:09as this, well, it should be,
14:12and we ought to think about it as being a unified power.
14:16But what it's become increasingly is a severed power,
14:19and more and more of it has been accumulated in the bureaucracy.
14:22And then with unelected judges in power of the bureaucracy,
14:26so forget there's a large section of our bureaucracy
14:28that doesn't want to deport any of these aliens, right?
14:30And they collude with the ACLU and the judiciary
14:34to try to keep them here in this country.
14:36So this is really about the restoration of democracy
14:38and saying that the person that's elected by the whole American people
14:41can implement these big policy shifts.
14:43Otherwise, what you have, which has unfortunately
14:45affected a lot of the Western world,
14:47is a situation where voters can't vote for the change that they want.
14:51And so this is really fundamentally about democracy.
14:54The American people said,
14:55to get these terrorist gangs the hell out of our country,
14:58the president has plenary authority under the Constitution,
15:02under the Illegal Enemies Act, under the IRA,
15:04under Article II powers to achieve that.
15:07And no district court judge who presides over some small,
15:12little geography of the whole country
15:15could possibly presume to have the authority
15:17to direct the expulsion of terrorists from our soil,
15:21who, by the way, are also here illegally.
15:23Thank you, everybody.