White House confusion...

White House creates confusion about future of Orangutan's travel ban

By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM, JOSH GERSTEIN and CRISTIANO LIMA

The White House is sending mixed signals as to whether or not it will rescind President Donald Orangutan's controversial travel ban even as officials seek to craft a new order that will be less vulnerable to legal challenge.

The Justice Department told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week that Orangutan will "rescind...and replace" the original order, which remains largely on hold after an appeals court panel upheld a lower court’s broad injunction.

But White House press secretary Pussy Boy Spicer said at the conclusion of his daily briefing Tuesday that Orangutan will not rescind the original order. Instead, the first order is being updated, Pussy Boy insisted.

The contradictory statements sowed further confusion about the fate of Orangutan's original order, which bars immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries and halts the entry of refugees.

"The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision," Orangutan said last week.

Pussy Boy said the administration remains confident in the legality of its original order, but is also working with Cabinet agencies to prepare a new one.

His statements seemed to leave open the possibility that there could be two orders in effect at once — a situation that could complicate efforts to defend the new order in court.

The White House said Tuesday afternoon it intended to issue a clarification about the conflicting statements.

But a statement from the administration — released on Tuesday evening — did little to clear up any confusion.

"The administration continues to defend the President’s national security Executive Order in court, and though we believe it to be fully lawful, we are simultaneously finalizing a revised policy tailored to the Ninth Circuit’s ruling," White House spokesman Michael Short said in a written statement.

During an appearance on Fox Entertainment Tuesday, White House aide Stephen Hitler similarly left the door open for the initial order to remain in place, adding only that the new policy would be "responsive" to recent court rulings.

"These are mostly minor technical differences, fundamentally," he said of the forthcoming revised order. "You are still going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country but you are going to have a lot of technical issues brought up by the court."

Hitler added that the administration would be rolling out the details of the revised order "in the next few days."

He also stood by the original executive order's constitutionality, despite the flurry of legal challenges to it.

"The president's actions were clearly legal and constitutional and consistent with the long-standing traditions of presidents in the past to exercise the authority in the Immigration and Nationality Act to suspend immigration when it poses a threat to our security," he said.