Inside the White House-Cabinet battle over Trumps immigration order
On the evening of Saturday, Jan. 28, as airport protests raged over President Trumps executive order on immigration, the man charged with implementing the order, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, had a plan. He would issue a waiver for lawful permanent residents, a.k.a. green-card holders, from the seven majority-Muslim countries whose citizens had been banned from entering the United States.
White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon wanted to stop Kelly in his tracks. Bannon paid a personal and unscheduled visit to Kellys Department of Homeland Security office to deliver an order: Dont issue the waiver. Kelly, according to two administration officials familiar with the confrontation, refused to comply with Bannons instruction. That was the beginning of a weekend of negotiations among senior Trump administration staffers that led, on Sunday, to a decision by Trump to temporarily freeze the issuance of executive orders.
The confrontation between Bannon and Kelly pitted a political operator against a military disciplinarian. Respectfully but firmly, the retired general and longtime Marine told Bannon that despite his high position in the White House and close relationship with Trump, the former Breitbart chief was not in Kellys chain of command, two administration officials said. If the president wanted Kelly to back off from issuing the waiver, Kelly would have to hear it from the president directly, he told Bannon.
Bannon left Kellys office without getting satisfaction. Trump didnt call Kelly to tell him to hold off. Kelly issued the waiver late Saturday night, although it wasnt officially announced until the following day.
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