Trump promises new security steps after travel ban court setback February 10, 2017

Trump promises new security steps after travel ban court setback
U.S. President Donald Trump promised on Friday to introduce additional national security
steps, a day after an appeals court refused to reinstate his travel ban on refugees and
citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, and he expressed confidence his order would
ultimately be upheld by the courts.
The White House is not ruling out the possibility of rewriting Trump's Jan. 27 order in light
of the actions by a federal judge in Seattle and an appeals court in San Francisco that
put the directive on hold, an administration official said.
Trump's order, which he has called a national security measure to head off attacks by Islamist
militants, barred people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from
entering for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days, except refugees from Syria, who
are banned indefinitely.
"We are going to do whatever's necessary to keep our country safe," Trump said during
a White House news conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Republican president did not answer directly when he was asked whether he would sign a
new travel ban.
"We'll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country.
You'll be seeing that sometime next week," Trump added, without providing specifics.
The president said his administration would also continue to go through the court process.
"And ultimately I have no doubt that we'll win that particular case," he added, referring
to Thursday's ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco, which upheld the lower court's suspension of his ban.
The administration could appeal the 9th Circuit ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court as early
as Friday.
NBC News reported that White House lawyers were working on a rewrite of Trump's executive
order that could win federal court approval.
"The administration is looking through all the options on how to move forward.
But we'd like to win the case in court," the administration official told Reuters.
Trump, who has repeatedly expressed frustration with the week-old court-mandated suspension,
tweeted on Friday that the appeals court decision was "disgraceful."
"SEE YOU IN COURT," he said in a Twitter post on Thursday after the ruling.
Thursday's ruling related only to whether to maintain the decision by U.S. District
Judge James Robart in Seattle to suspend the order, and did not resolve a lawsuit against
the ban brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota.
Those states have argued the ban violated constitutional protections against religious
discrimination.[
The administration has also been defending Trump's ban in more than a dozen additional
lawsuits now moving through the U.S. court system.
Justice Department lawyers argued in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia on Friday against
a preliminary injunction that would put a longer hold on the executive order than the
Seattle court ruling.
The Supreme Court is currently one short of its nine-member strength and ideologically
split, with four liberal justices and four conservatives, pending Senate confirmation
of Trump's conservative nominee, Neil Gorsuch, to the bench.
The administration would need five of the eight justices to vote in favor of reinstating
the travel ban while litigation continued in the lawsuit brought by Washington and Minnesota.
That would mean the administration would need to win over at least one of the liberal justices.
Top Federal Reserve official resigns as bank deregulation looms
The top Federal Reserve official charged with bank regulation said on Friday that he would
resign, giving President Donald Trump the ability to reshape the powerful board governing
the U.S. financial system just as he begins revamping and undoing reforms put in place
after the 2007-09 financial crisis.
Daniel Tarullo, at the Fed since 2009, said in his brief resignation letter to Trump that
he would leave the central bank "on or around April 5."
Much of Tarullo's legacy involves erecting safeguards after the crisis and accompanying
recession, where big banks crumbled or were driven by the Fed and U.S. Treasury into shotgun
mergers intended to make them stronger.
With the goal of never needing taxpayer bailouts of failed banks, Tarullo has been strict about
carrying out the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.
He has also pushed for bigger capital buffers and other checks on potential risks the largest
banks may pose to the world's financial system.
His departure leaves broad questions about the future of financial regulation, especially
as Trump has ordered a review of what his administration considers onerous bank rules.
Many had expected Tarullo to step down but "the timing is earlier than anticipated, said
Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, adding that it would give the Trump
administration "greater scope to shape the Board."
Bank stocks moved higher in the moments following the announcement, with the S&P banks industry
group index rising by 0.35 percent.
Trump now will have three positions to fill on the Fed's Board of Governors, which at
full strength has seven members.
He will also have the opportunity to nominate a replacement for Fed chief Janet Yellen when
her four-year term as chair ends in January 2018.
Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer also completes his term in 2018.
"The new administration will have an opportunity to recraft the Board in a remarkably short
period of time," said Stephen Stanley, an economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities.
The administration has already said it would appoint a new Fed governor charged with heading
financial regulation, a post created in Dodd-Frank.
Tarullo was never formally confirmed for it, but stepped into the role.
David Nason, a former deputy to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in 2008 and General Electric
executive, is the front runner for the post, according to sources familiar with the matter.
John Allison, a former BB&T CEO who has said he would like to abolish the Fed, has also
been mentioned as a potential nominee.
In recent months, Tarullo sharply questioned moves by Republican lawmakers to roll back
post-crisis regulations, putting him at odds with House Financial Services Committee Chairman
Jeb Hensarling.
Last year he criticized Hensarling's bill that would give banks the choice to comply
with Dodd-Frank or hold higher amounts of capital, saying the proposed capital ratio
was too low.
Hensarling is expected to bring up the plan again in a new bill soon.
Besides crafting regulation, Tarullo is a voter on interest rate policy and his record
shows he has tended toward caution on raising interest rates.
The Fed signaled in December it could raise interest rates three times this year.
Trump says U.S. committed to Japan security, in change from campaign rhetoric
President Donald Trump on Friday praised the alliance between the United States and Japan
as a cornerstone of regional peace and stability, edging away from campaign pledges to force
Tokyo to pay more for the U.S. security umbrella.
Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began two days of talks with a hug as Abe
entered the White House and more handshakes and smiles in the Oval Office.
They departed later for Palm Beach, Florida, for a weekend stay at Trump's Mar-a-Lago retreat
with their wives.
At a joint news conference with Abe, Trump avoided repeating harsh campaign rhetoric
that accused Japan of taking advantage of U.S. security aid and stealing American jobs.
It was a welcome affirmation for Japan in the face of challenges such as China’s maritime
expansion and North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.
"We are committed to the security of Japan and all areas under its administrative control
and to further strengthening our very crucial alliance," Trump said.
"The bond between our two nations and the friendship between our two peoples runs very,
very deep.
This administration is committed to bringing those ties even closer," he added.
A joint U.S.-Japanese statement said the U.S. commitment to defend Japan through nuclear
and conventional military capabilities is unwavering.
The statement amounted to a victory for Abe, who came to Washington wanting to develop
a sense of trust and friendship with the new U.S. president and send a message that the
decades-old alliance is unshakeable.
Japan got continued U.S. backing for its dispute with Beijing over islands in the East China
Sea that China also claims.
The statement said the two leaders affirmed that Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan security
treaty covered the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
Abe invited Trump for a visit to Japan this year and Trump accepted.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will make an early stop in Tokyo.
But uncertainty remained in another area, that of trade, after Trump abruptly pulled
the United States out of the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Abe said he was "fully aware" of Trump's decision to withdraw from the multilateral trade accord.
But he said Japan and the United States had agreed on a new framework for economic dialogue.
"I am quite optimistic that ... good results will be seen from the dialogue," he said,
adding that Japan was looking for a fair, common set of rules for trade in the region.
Trump, who spoke by phone on Thursday night with Chinese President Xi Jinping, also said
he considered dealing with North Korea's nuclear program a "very very high priority" but gave
no hint as to how his approach would differ from that of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
He predicted a level playing field on trade with China soon.
FLORIDA DIPLOMACY
The Mar-a-Lago visit will be Trump's first use of his Florida getaway for diplomatic
purposes.
It will also be the most time Trump will have spent with a foreign leader since taking power
last month and his second face-to-face meeting with a key ally after talks with British Prime
Minister Theresa May two weeks ago.
Trump hosted Abe at Trump Tower last year in his first talks with a foreign leader after
his surprise win in the November presidential election.
Abe played down his chances in scoring better than Trump in golf.
"My scores in golf are not up to the level of Donald
at all, but my policy is never up, never in, always aiming for the cup," he said.
Japan has had lingering concerns about what Trump's self-styled "America First" strategy
means for U.S. foreign policy in Asia as well as what his decision to withdraw from the
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact means for bilateral economic ties.
Abe pledged Japan would help create U.S. jobs, hoping to persuade Trump to turn down the
heat on economic matters and stand by the alliance.
To avoid questions about whether Japan is paying Trump for Abe to stay at the beachfront
Mar-a-Lago retreat, the White House declared that
the entire visit there, including golf, is the official gift for Abe from Trump.

Trump promises new security steps after travel ban court setback February 10, 2017

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