'Is he confused or are you confused?': Sean Spicer grilled by reporters in heated exchange over Trump's travel ban
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Early in the briefing, Spicer said referring to the order as a travel ban was incorrect and a falsehood about the statute that was being perpetuated by the news media.
NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker pointed out to Spicer that a Monday tweet from Trump had referred to the order as a "ban."
Here was that tweet from Trump:
"So he says it's a ban," Welker said.
"He's using the words that the media is using," Spicer responded, beginning another sentence when a reporter in the room fired back, "It's his words!"
Spicer said the order "can't be a ban" if people are still being allowed into the country.
"It is extreme vetting," he said.
Welker kept at it.
"The president himself called it a ban," she said.
"I understand," Spicer replied.
Welker then asked: "Is he confused or are you confused?"
Spicer insisted he was not.
"No, I'm not confused," he said. "I think that the words being used to describe it are derived from what the media is calling this. ... [Trump] has been very clear that it is extreme vetting."
He also fired back, claiming that Welker and NBC News "have been part of the confusion," and criticized the news network for referencing a New York Times report that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly had not been properly consulted prior to the executive order being signed Friday.
"It was accurate," Times reporter Glenn Thrush shouted out.
"How can it be accurate reporting, Glenn?" Spicer asked, pointing to Kelly's Tuesday press conference where the Homeland Security secretary pushed back on the report.
"You're calling him a liar?" Spicer asked.
"I'm not calling him a liar," Thrush responded.
The executive order bars for 90 days people from Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and Libya - all countries identified by former President Barack Obama's administration as terror hotspots - from entering the US. It also bars all refugees for 120 days, and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely.
The order was interpreted to include barring those who are legal permanent residents in the US, known as green-card holders. It led to widespread confusion at major airports over the weekend and legal permanent residents being detained. On Sunday, Kelly ordered green-card holders from the countries to be allowed into the US.
Federal judges in four states issued a temporary stay on Saturday preventing authorities from deporting travelers who were stuck in airports because of the order, but the long-term legality of the measure remains unclear.
Watch part of the exchange below:
Spicer: Not a ban@kwelkernbc: But Trump called it a ban
- Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) January 31, 2017
SS: Media's words
KW: No, Trump's word
SS: Not a ban
KW: Is he confused or are you? pic.twitter.com/P30SFmPiXJ
If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the "bad" would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad "dudes" out there!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017
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