Here's a recap of Trump's third week in office - Los Angeles Times
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Here’s a recap of Trump’s third week in office

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President Trump’s Week 3 in office has been packed full of notable moments. We’ll try to help you keep track of the major events:

Travel ban overview

On Jan. 27, President Trump signed an executive order that suspended entry to the U.S. for visitors from seven mostly Muslim countries for at least 90 days, froze the entire U.S. refugee program for four months, and indefinitely banned refugees from Syria. Here’s a timeline of how that order had fared in the courts so far:

  • Friday: The State Department revoked nearly 60,000 visas under Trump’s executive order.
  • Friday: U.S. District Court Judge James Robart issued a temporary restraining order on the travel ban in response to lawsuits filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota. Those suits argue several points, including that the ban violates religious liberties protected under the U.S. Constitution.
  • Saturday: Department of Homeland Security officials suspended “any and all actions” related to Trump’s executive action and the State Department began re-accepting visas.
  • Saturday: The Justice Department filed a request to immediately reinstate the ban.
  • Sunday: That request was denied by the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.
  • Tuesday: Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly accepted responsibility for the botched roll out of the travel ban and denied reports that senior White House counselor Steve Bannon had asked him to preserve the ban on green card holders.
  • Tuesday: Trump vowed to continue to fight for implementation of the ban, even if that means appealing to the Supreme Court.
  • Tuesday: A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments about whether to lift Judge Robart’s stay and reinstate the ban.
  • Wednesday: The president criticized some of the questions by the 9th Circuit judges in remarks at a gathering of police chiefs in Washington, D.C. Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court later told a Democratic senator that he found the president’s recent comments about the judiciary “demoralizing and abhorrent.”
  • Thursday: In a unanimous ruling, the 9th Circuit panel refused to reinstate the travel ban, rejecting all the government’s arguments. The case is probably headed to the Supreme Court.
  • Friday: Trump said he’s considering a new, narrower version of the executive order. The new directive would stop refugee admissions and the issuance of new visas, according to an administration official familiar with the internal deliberations.

Last weekend

  • More airport commotion. Backers and opponents of Trump’s travel ban held competing rallies at Los Angeles International Airport. And in Boston, several of those previously detained under Trump’s travel ban arrived at Logan International Airport to cheers of family and supporters.
  • “You think our country is so innocent?” That’s what Trump said when Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly said in an interview with the president that Putin is “a killer.” The Kremlin wants an apology from O’Reilly.
  • In the same interview, Trump called California and its efforts to declare itself a sanctuary state “out of control.” The president said, “If we have to, we’ll defund.”

Monday, Feb. 6

  • Trump complained that “the dishonest press” had failed to cover terrorist attacks in the U.S. and in Europe. But the list of 78 attacks the White House released later included many widely reported incidents, including the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando and 2015’s attacks in San Bernardino and Paris.

Tuesday, Feb. 7

  • For the first time in U.S. history, a vice president had to be the tiebreaker in a Senate confirmation vote for a Cabinet nomination. With Vice President Mike Pence’s vote, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Trump’s secretary of Education.
  • First Lady Melania Trump refiled a libel lawsuit against the corporation that publishes the Daily Mail’s website. The suit originally was filed in September after the outlet reported rumors that she once had worked for an escort service. She claims she lost a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance to profit off her high profile.
  • Back to that wall. Kelly, the Homeland Security secretary, said the 2,000-mile border wall won’t get built overnight. “We’re not going to build a wall everywhere all at once,” he said.
  • All news is good news? Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to Trump, said the White House will continue to refer to the media as “fake news” if the media continues to “attack” the president. “That’s how unhealthy the situation is and until the media understands how wrong that attitude is, and how it hurts their credibility, we are going to continue to say, ‘fake news,’” he said.
  • The Republican leadership in the Senate drew on an old rule to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren after she read a critical letter by Dr. Martin Luther King’s widow about Sen. Jeff Sessions. Warren was forbidden from speaking again on Sessions’ nomination.

Wednesday, Feb. 8

  • Tweeter-in-chief: Trump dug into Nordstrom on Twitter after the department store chain decided to stop selling his daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories line. Read the tweet.
  • The battle is done. The Senate confirmed Jeff Sessions as the U.S. attorney general.

Thursday, Feb. 9

  • An all-caps response: Shortly after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals released its decision not to reinstate the travel ban, Trump tweeted: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE.”
  • On the same day, Trump tweeted an attack on Sen. John McCain for calling the Yemen raid a “failure.”
  • Kellyanne Conway gets “counseled.” The senior White House aide went on Fox News and endorsed first daughter Ivanka Trump’s product line, raising legal and ethical questions.
  • Construction on the Dakota Access oil pipeline resumed after months of protests and ongoing legal challenges.
  • “One China” policy gets a thumbs up. After weeks of uncertainty, Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he would honor China’s sovereignty over Taiwan in their first phone call since Trump’s inauguration.

Friday, Feb. 10

  • Another Cabinet member gets confirmed: Rep. Tom Price wins a party line vote in the Senate to become the new Health and Human Services secretary.
  • Awwwwkward. Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met to talk major world issues, but their awkward handshake stole the show — at least on social media.

Can’t get enough? We’ve got you covered for last week too. »

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Grade the president

Now that you’re all caught up, here’s your chance to tell us what you think of Trump as we track his major moves in the first 100 days.

Grading opens every Friday and closes at the end of Monday. We’ll be posting your responses, so subscribe to our newsletter to get notified when they go up.

Send us your grades »

Questions? Comments? Send an email to [email protected] and [email protected], or tweet @cshalby and @melissaleu.

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UPDATES:

Feb. 10, 4:50 p.m.: This article was updated with Friday developments.

Feb. 10, 12:20 p.m.: This article was updated with Trump’s tweets on Sen. John McCain and his stance on China and Rep. Tom Price’s confirmation.

Feb. 9, 4:05 p.m.: This article was updated with Thursday developments.

Feb. 8, 6:10 p.m.: This article was updated with Jeff Sessions’ confirmation as U.S. attorney general.

Feb. 8, 3:35 p.m.: This article was updated with details from Wednesday and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s rebuke in the Senate.

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Feb. 7, 6:50 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the 9th Circuit Court hearing and a Trump deputy’s comments about “fake news.”

This article was originally published Feb. 7 at 2:45 pm.

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