White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is about to hold his third official press briefing.
The briefing is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. It can be viewed live in the embedded YouTube player via The White House.
Spicer will almost certainly be asked today about President Donald Trump’s announcement of a major investigation into voter fraud. During yesterday’s conference, Spicer confirmed that President Trump believes that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election and that this is the only reason he lost the popular vote; however, Spicer was not able to cite any evidence whatsoever of widespread voter fraud.
I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and….
even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!
Another topic of discussion will be President Trump’s plan to sign an executive order enabling the construction of a wall along the southern border. Still many questions remain unanswered, including what the timeline of its construction would be and how it will be initially funded. And as Trump shifts his focus to immigration issues, it’s still not clear how the administration will deal with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gives protection to people who arrived in the United States illegally when they were children. During the campaign, Trump promised to reverse this.
“We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties, in which he defied federal law and the constitution to give amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants,” Trump said during an immigration speech in August 2016.
However, Trump has since implied he might not completely reverse DACA, saying in December that “we’re going to work something out” for these immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and don’t have full legal status.
In addition, Spicer will likely be asked about a Washington Post report that President Trump is considering authorizing the CIA to reopen “black site” prisons and reinstitute interrogation tactics that were stopped by President Obama. Senator John McCain responded to this report this morning, saying that no matter what executive order the president might sign, the United States will not be engaging in torture.
“During both our personal conversations and his confirmation hearing, CIA Director Mike Pompeo repeatedly committed to me that he will comply with the law that applies the Army Field Manual’s interrogation requirements to all U.S. agencies, including the CIA,” McCain said in a statement. “In response to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said he ‘support[s] using the Army Field Manual as the single standard for all U.S. military interrogations.’ I am confident these leaders will be true to their word.”