Donald Trump’s new travel ban was hit with its first judicial roadblock on Wednesday after a Hawaii federal federal judge issued a freeze on the executive order… and it’s all thanks to Trump’s own allies.
Judge Derrick Watson pointed to comments from some of Trump’s top advisers when issuing his ruling, noting that senior adviser Stephen Miller said in a Fox News interview that the revised order was essentially the same as the first, with a few tweaks aimed at bolstering the administration’s case in court.
In his Fox interview, Miller said that the new travel ban would have the “same basic policy outcome for the country,” and that the changes were made in order to address the concerns of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Watson also quoted Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani, who boasted during an interview that Trump called him to find a way to make the “Muslim ban” legal.
“These plainly-worded statements, made in the months leading up to and contemporaneous with the signing of the Executive Order, and, in many cases, made by the Executive himself, betray the Executive Order’s stated secular purpose,” Watson wrote.
Watson ruled that the suit, brought about by the state of Hawaii and a Muslim leader, showed a “strong” likelihood to succeed.
After the first order was blocked, the Trump administration made some changes. The new order, signed earlier this month, was set to take effect on Thursday.