FULL GAGGLE: Stephen Miller Says DOJ Can Probe Biden Pardons, Defends Deportations

Forbes Breaking News

Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Trump, held a press gaggle outside the White House.

Transcript

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.

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