Obama Rejects Comparison Between Trump's Immigration Policy and His Own and More In Politics Today

It’s difficult to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in this country and to break through the clutter, so we’re here to make it easier. Here’s what we at Countable are reading today:

1. "Obama rejects comparison between Trump's immigration policy and his own, encourages protests"

"Former president Barack Obama rejected the idea Monday that President Trump had based his immigration executive order on a policy adopted by his own administration, and endorsed the protests that have been taking place across the country in response to the new restrictions."

"Trump has said that his move to ban the entry of migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries into the U.S., and to suspend temporarily the admission of refugees, was based in part by a decision in 2011 by then-President Obama to ban the admission of Iraqis to the U.S. after evidence surfaced that two Iraqis seeking resettlement had been linked to terrorist activity in their home country. The Obama and Trump administrations also identified the same seven countries as harboring terrorism threats."

Read more at the Washington Post.

2. "Spicer says Trump's immigration order wasn't meant to lead to deportations"

"White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday afternoon said that the Trump administration never meant to deport anyone with the executive order on immigration the President signed on Friday, which temporarily banned the entry of people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Asked about legal challenges to the order at the daily press briefing, Spicer said that a ruling by a federal judge in New York "didn't make any sense."”

"It deals with people who are being deported. The action never spoke to it, never intended to deport people," Spicer said. A federal judge in New York on Saturday issued an order keeping U.S. officials from deporting people who fell under the travel ban and who were detained in American airports despite having valid visas. Spicer claimed on Monday that the federal government never meant to deport any those who were detained. He said that officials detained them and determined whether or not “they sought to do us any harm."”

Read more at Talking Points Memo.

3. "EU negotiator: Trump, Putin, Islamic extremism threaten bloc"

"U.S. President Donald Trump poses a serious threat to the continued existence to the European Union because he is working with far-right groups on the continent to engineer the bloc's disintegration, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator said Monday."

"Guy Verhofstadt, a former prime minister of Belgium and now a liberal member of the European Parliament, said the EU had “fewer friends than ever in the United States today." Trump and his political advisers had joined with European far-right movements in undermining the EU, he said in a speech at London think-tank Chatham House. Trump himself had spoken “very favorably of the fact that other countries will want to break away” from the 28-member bloc.”

Read more at The Associated Press.

4. "Quebec mosque shooting suspect in custody"

"Canadian police have detained two men in connection to a deadly shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada. One of the men is suspected in the attack on the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre that left six people dead and the other is a witness, police said. Police had earlier said both men were suspects in the shooting, which also left five people in critical condition. One man was arrested at the scene and a second man held after he called 911, police said."

"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard both described the attack as a terrorist act, but authorities were reluctant to label it as such. The attack came as protests over US President Donald Trump's travel ban on several Muslim countries gripped the US. When asked if Mr Trump's actions influenced the attack, Mr Couillard said no, but added: “We are obviously in a world where people tend to divide themselves rather than unite themselves."”

Read more at the BBC.

5. "Bannon role on National Security Council under fire"

"President Donald Trump further reorganized the National Security Council on Monday after he came under sharp criticism for ousting the country's most senior intelligence and military officials as regular members of the Principals Committee -- and installing one of his top political advisers on the key panel."

"On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced that Trump will reinstate the director of the CIA as a regular Principals Committee member. But the President will keep his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, as a regular committee member -- a move that came under fire -- while the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will not be regular attendees."

Read more at the CNN.

— Erin Wright

(Photo Credit: Secretary of Defense - Flickr / Public Domain)