A New York Times profile on White House chief of staff John Kelly mischaracterized President Trump’s legislative priorities on immigration as it described a televised meeting Trump hosted with senior lawmakers.
“Trump invited some of them to a televised summit at the White House, where he told them he would approve any legislation they brought him,” said the Times article, authored by Matt Flegenheimer. “He even assured Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, that he welcomed a stand-alone bill protecting the Dreamers from deportation — anathema to the negotiating position of Republicans in Congress, some of whom rushed to dissuade him at the table.”
Video of the meeting, however, did not show Trump assuring Feinstein that he “welcomed” a bill solely addressing legal protection for so-called “Dreamers,” the young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
The exchange between Feinstein and Trump, during which House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy also jumped in, made news at the time because it appeared to show that Trump was unclear in what he expected in a bill sent to him by Congress.
“I don’t know how you would feel about this but I’d like to ask the question,” Feinstein said to Trump. “What about a clean DACA bill now with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive immigration reform procedure… ”
“I have no problem,” Trump said. “I think that’s basically what [Senate Minority Whip] Dick [Durbin] is saying. We’re going to come out with DACA. We’re going to do DACA and then we can start immediately on the phase two which would be comprehensive. I would like to do that. I think a lot of people would like to see that. But I think we have to do DACA first.”
At that point, McCarthy intervened. “Mr. President, you’ve got to be clear though,” he said. “I think what Sen. Feinstein’s asking here, when we talk about DACA, we don’t want to be back here two years later. You have to have security, as the Secretary [of National Security Kirstjen Neilsen] will tell you.”
Trump replied, “But I think that’s what she’s saying,” indicating he believed that Feinstein was talking about a bill dealing with DACA and border security, and not just DACA as the Times suggested.
Feinstein then clarified that she wanted border security to be addressed in a separate bill that also dealt with other reforms to the immigration system.
A separate New York Times article from the day of the meeting acknowledged the confusion. “In the remarkable exchange with the president and Ms. Feinstein, the majority leader [Kevin McCarthy] clearly feared that Mr. Trump was about to give away their leverage by agreeing to consider issues like chain migration at a later time,” it said. “Mr. Trump’s response suggested that he was missing the nuances…”
The website Vox wrote an article calling the meeting “bizarre and confusing.”
