The WatchHawk: Week five of Trump’s administration

A+survey+on+the+approval+of+President+Trumps+executive+order+banning+refugees+from+seven+majority+Muslim+countries+from+entering+the+U.S.+TNS+2017

A survey on the approval of President Trump’s executive order banning refugees from seven majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S. TNS 2017

Samantha Durham | Assistant Opinion Editor

Trump wants Nukes

This week, President Donald J. Trump has been expressing concerns in regards to nuclear weapons. He stated, according to CNN, that the United States has “fallen behind” in its nuclear weapons capacity.

However, after an interview with the Reuters, President Trump explained that he would much rather live in a nuclear weapon free world. But since that is not possible, the United States need to be “at the top of the pack,” reported CNN.

These remarks were first made at Friday’s Conservative Political Action Conference, where President Trump appeared with Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. The president and his team discussed the administration’s current agenda along with media related conflicts.

Many are questioning Trump’s “sudden” interest in nuclear weapons. Many are pointing out that Russia announced in December that they would be enhancing their country’s nuclear force. Hours later, Trump tweeted that the United States, “must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its sense regarding nukes,” according to CNN.

FBI refuses White House Request

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has recently rejected the White House’s request to “knock down” reports in the media about Russia and the Trump administration. However, once the request was turned down, the White House stated on Thursday that the request was only made after belief that the reports were fake surfaced, reported CNN.

In order to reduce these stories, the White House requested the assistance from the bureau and other agencies involved in the investigation of the “Russia matter” to state that the reports of contact were fake and that the Trump administration has not been in contact with Russia.

Many are surprised by the White House’s bold decision to request aid from the FBI. This request from the White House violates procedures that limit the FBI from communicating on a pending investigation, reported CNN. 

However, when the request by the White House came into question, White House press secretary Sean Spicer stated, “We didn’t try to knock the story down. We asked them to tell the truth.” This was reported on by CNN.

Trump seeks support for the travel ban

According to CNN, President Trump has assigned the Department of Homeland Security to build a case for its travel ban on migrants from seven countries.

Trump and his administration did not take their defeat in court lightly, as the travel ban has yet to fade. The Trump administration has been defending the ban as a constitutional and safe way to defend the country, hoping that the revised version of the ban will depict this idea, reported The New York Times.

According to White House officials, the revised order will maintain the bans key elements and will be released to the public soon.

Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser, stated that immigration restrictions would still remain for the same seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.  Miller also explained that these countries have posed “dozens and dozens of terrorism cases,” as stated in The New York Times.

However many are still heavily against the proposed travel ban, even a revised version. Many are wondering how accurate the facts supporting the ban truly are.

The New York Times reported that Steve Miller claimed 72 individuals from these seven countries were implicated in terroristic activities, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. However, after looking into that statement further, it has been discovered that of those 72 “terrorists” at least 38 of them were convicted for forging immigration paperwork, tax fraud or lying to the FBI- all crimes that do not fall under acts of terrorism, according to The New York Times.

Many are also drawing attention to home grown terrorism. The New American Foundation reported that all of the 12 jihadist terrorists who attacked and killed people within the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, were all American born citizens or permanent residents.

Secondly, all of those terrorists had no ties to any of the seven countries mentioned in President Trump’s travel ban. Alongside those statistics, The New York Times reported that out of about 400 non-deadly jihadist terrorist attacks made on American soil since 9/11, only three cases linked to Iran or Somalia.

On top of those facts, President Trump has also made accusations that the United States allows “thousands and thousands of people into our country” with no proper method of vetting these new comers.

The New York Times stated that the system for screening refugees involves the United Nations as well as many other intelligence and immigration government agencies. Refugees must undergo several rounds of background checks involving biographical and biometric checks that last about one to two years.

While many have expressed concerns about the gaps in data collection due to the influx of refugees fleeing Syria, this does not prove the system is failing; it simply is not “foolproof,” reported The New York Times.

Overall these facts along with other questions and allegations regarding the travel ban and the Trump administration have resulted in some questioning the validity of the ban. While the Trump administration has hopes that the revised travel ban will see more support, many of the key points that the public disagreed with remain intact.