PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S administration has dropped its appeal against a court ruling that suspended his travel ban targeting seven predominantly-Muslim countries.
It said it would replace the ban with a new modified measure in the coming week.
The Justice Department announced the move in a brief filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
It said the new order would address complaints from a three-judge panel that parts of the order were unconstitutional.
“Rather than continuing this litigation, the President intends in the near future to rescind the Order and replace it with a new, substantially revised Executive Order to eliminate what the panel erroneously thought were constitutional concerns,” the brief states.
When the travel ban was originally suspended, Trump had indicated that he would fight back against the court’s ruling and said that the stakes were high.
In an extraordinary press conference earlier today, Trump claimed that he had “inherited a mess” from the previous administration and that he had achieved more with his administration so far than previous US presidents had in the same amount of time.
“To be honest,” he said, “I inherited a mess. At home and abroad. A mess.
Low pay, low wages. Mass instability overseas no matter where you look. The Middle East a disaster. North Korea. We’ll take care of it, folks. We’re going to take care of it all.
He also denied claims that members of his election team had repeatedly been in contact with Russian officials, calling it “fake news”.
They know nothing about it. They weren’t in Russia. They never made a phone call to Russia. They never received a phone call. It’s all fake news.
He also said in the press conference that he had asked the Justice Department to investigate leaks made to the press.
With reporting from AFP.
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