The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

A4 eZ sU the washington post.friday, february 21 , 2020

BY NICK MIROFF AND JOSH DAWSEY

Acting White House chief of
staff mick mulvaney told a crowd
at a private gathering in England
on Wednesday night that the
Trump administration “needs
more immigrants” for the U.S.
economy to continue growing,
according to an audio recording
of his remarks obtained by The
Washington Post.
“We are desperate — desperate
— for more people,” mulvaney
said. “We are running out of
people to fuel the economic
growth that we’ve had in our
nation over the last four years. We
need more immigrants.”
The Trump administration
wants those immigrants to come
in a “legal fashion,” mulvaney
said, according to the recording.
mulvaney’s remarks appear in
contrast to the public position of
several top figures in Trump’s
White House — especially that of
senior policy adviser Stephen
miller — who have been working
to slash legal and illegal immigra-
tion through a slew of policies
that aim to close off the U. S.
border to foreigners. They have
insisted that the steady arrival of
newcomers depresses wages for
the blue-collar U. S. workers
whose votes helped lift Trump to
the presidency in 2016.
During a visit to the border last
year amid a record surge of Cen-
tral American families and chil-
dren crossing into the United
States, the president said the
country could not absorb more
newcomers.
“our country is full,” Trump
said. “Can’t take you anymore...
so turn around.”
mulvaney’s private remarks
were more in line with conven-
tional GoP views of immigration
as a major engine for the U.S.
economy. The White House chief
of staff told the crowd of several
hundred people at oxford Union
that despite the president’s “anti-
immigrant” reputation, his ad-
ministration wants more foreign
workers.
He praised the immigration
systems in Canada and Australia
and said the Trump administra-
tion wants the United States to
embrace a model closer to those
nations. “We are very interested

in expanding that,” he said. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, has made similar arguments in advocating for giving higher priority to highly skilled immigrants instead of those seek- ing to reunite with family mem- bers already living in the United States. His plan for legal immigration has not received congressio- nal approval and remains unlike- ly to do so in Trump’s first term, administration officials said. Hard-line immigration restric- tionists want fewer new arrivals — legal and illegal — arguing that immigrants increase wage com- petition against U.S. workers. miller and former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon embraced those arguments during the president’s 2016 campaign, which they argued were key to his electoral

strategy in rust Belt states that have suffered from job losses and wage stagnation. Trump has waffled on the sub- ject, at times suggesting that he would like to curb legal immigration and at times saying he would like to increase it. “If everyone from Bangladesh moved here, the economy would get bigger. Would the economic condition of people already here get better? Is it necessary to increase immigration to improve the condition of Americans who are already here? The answer is no,” s aid mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, whose arguments for lower immigration levels have influenced miller and others in the administration. “A t ight l abor market i s the b est

social policy,” he said. “We’re see- ing an uptick in wages for less- skilled workers, as well as incen- tives for employers to recruit ex-cons, disabled people, i n general workers they would not consid- er if the job market were looser.” Defenders of the president’s policies note that the United States continues to grant legal permanent residency to more than 1 million immigrants per year, far more than any other nation. Since Trump took office, the number of immigration visas issued by the State Department has d ropped 17 p ercent, a ccording to the l atest U.S. government data. Trump has bucked several de- cades of bipartisan enthusiasm for immigration, buttressing the system with an array of physical and legal barriers. The president

is building hundreds of miles of steel barriers along the boundary with mexico while slashing refu- gee admissions to their lowest level on record. His administration has essentially closed the U.S. southern border to those who arrive seek- ing protection from persecution and has for the past year been sending asylum seekers to the mexican side of the border to wait for t heir U. S. court h earings under a program his administration calls the “migrant Protection Pro- tocols.” The administration mov- ing away from the mPP program and is instead flying asylum seekers t o Guatemala a nd is f ast-track- ing deportations. The president’s “make America Great Again” campaign message harks back to a more homoge-

neous time in U.S. history, before the demographic changes that were brought by globalization and relatively high levels of immigration. Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the liber- tarian Cato Institute, said mulvaney’s statements were very much in line with the views he often expressed as a GoP congressman from South Carolina. “mulvaney in Congress was hugely supportive of expanding immigration, and the great th ing about having him in this position is that he’s been a voice of sanity, r eason and support for the mainstream economic con- sensus o n immigration, w hich is that it’s good for economy,” Nowrasteh said, noting that there is a strong contingent of people in the republican Party and in the administration who support liberalizing immigration because of the economic benefits. “They have been overshad- owed by the Stephen millers in the administration,” he said, “but the evidence is overwhelming that if you want to expand the economy, having more people who are consumers, workers and investors is the way to go.” Trump has sent mixed signals in his speeches. “Legal immigrants enrich our nation and strengthen our soci- ety in countless ways,” t he president said in his 2019 State of the Union address. “I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.” That line alarmed restriction- ists but essentially said the same thing mulvaney did to the crowd at oxford Union. Such praises were notably ab- sent in this year’s State of the Union address, when Trump’s statements focused on sanctuary cities and crimes committed by immigrants. The president h eld a rally earlier this month in which he also performed a routine he calls “The Snake” about a kind woman who nurses a frozen snake back to health, o nly to have it bite her with fatal venom. The story is a parable about immigration, Trump said. [email protected] [email protected]

Mulvaney says U.S. ‘needs more immigrants’ to continue economic growth

Jabin botsford/the Washington post Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, left, meets with national security adviser Robert C. o’Brien and President trump on Marine one in January. Mulvaney’s remarks made on Wednesday seem to contrast the opinions of top figures in the trump White House.

tweet that Stone was being treat-
ed unfairly c ompared w ith politi-
cal rivals he wants to see charged
with crimes, including former
fBI director James B. Comey,
former fBI deputy director An-
drew mcCabe and former secre-
tary of state Hillary Clinton, who
ran against him for president in
2016.
Not long after Stone’s hearing
ended, Trump made s imilar com-
ments in an appearance before
former inmates in Las Vegas.
Trump sought to make common
cause over the criminal justice
system. “These people know
more about bad juries than ev-
erybody,” he said. Then he specif-
ically attacked the panel and
forewoman who decided Stone’s
case.
“This is a woman who was an
anti-Trump person, totally,” he
said. “Is that a defrauding of the
court? You tell me.”
Trump said he was “following
this very closely, and I want to
see it play out to its fullest
because roger has a very good
chance of exoneration in my
opinion.” But he added, “I’m not
going to do anything in terms of
the great powers bestowed upon
a president of the United States. I
want the process to play out.”
overnight, Trump had hinted
he could pardon Stone, tweeting
a video clip in which fox News
host Tucker Carlson said, “Presi-
dent Trump could end this trav-
esty in an instant with a pardon,
and there are indications tonight
that he will do that.”
Stone, 67, was convicted by a
federal jury on seven counts of
lying to Congress and tampering
with a witness about his efforts
to learn about hacked Democrat-
ic emails related to Clinton.
A jury found the longtime
GoP operative guilty of lying
during testimony to the House
Intelligence Committee in Sep-
tember 2017 to conceal his cen-
tral role i n the Trump campaign’s
efforts to learn about computer
files hacked by russia and made
public by the anti-secrecy group
WikiLeaks. Stone also threat-
ened a witness who was an
associate of his in an attempt to
prevent the man from cooperat-
ing with lawmakers.
Stone did not speak in court
and showed no visible emotion
as the sentence was read. Emerg-
ing from the courtroom in a
wide-striped suit and polka-dot

stone from A

tie, he appeared calm. “I have nothing to say,” Stone said. “Thank you.” Stone, his wife and a large entourage exited the courthouse to a large crowd of photogra- phers, supporters and antago- nists. As he climbed into an SUV, protesters shouted “Lock him up!” while supporters yelled “Pardon roger Stone!” Stone requested a new trial last week, after Trump suggested the forewoman in Stone’s case had “significant bias.” Jackson, the judge, said previously that she would delay implementing his sentence until she resolves that request. A filing is due from Stone’s defense team monday. In addition to prison, Jackson or- dered Stone to p ay a $20,000 fine and serve two years of super- vised release. He remains out of prison on bond, and even if he loses his motion for a new trial, he will have at least two weeks to turn himself in — unless an appeal further delays things. The penalty capped an unusu- al sentencing hearing in which Jackson sought not only to re- solve disputes between prosecutors and defense attorneys, but also to seek answers on the internal Justice Department

haggling over what punishment the government would endorse. The initial team of four career prosecutors recommended that Jackson impose a term of seven to nine years, only to see Trump tweet about the matter and Barr

personally intervene. All four prosecutors then quit the case — with one leaving the government entirely — and their replace- ments filed a new recommendation suggesting that three to four years was “more typical” i n cases like Stone’s. Ye t the new prosecutor in court Thursday defended his predecessors and argued for the same stiff sentencing enhance- ments as they had. “The Department of Justice and the United States attorney’s office is committed to following the law without fear, favor or political influence,” Assistant U. S. Attorney John Crabb Jr. said. “This prosecution was and this prosecution is righteous.” Crabb said the court “should impose a substantial period of incarceration,” although he did not propose a specific number of months or years. At the Justice Department, one senior official expressed re- lief that the sentence was more in line with Barr’s preferred recommendation than the career prosecutors’ guidance o f seven to nine years. “It was messier than we wanted, but we ended up in the same place,” t he official said. Jackson acknowledged the

case’s underlying political ten- sion and pressed Crabb to ex- plain why prosecutors filed two very different sentencing mem- os. She asked why the Justice Department ultimately chose to recommend bucking the guide- lines — when department policies do not allow that without approval from s upervisors — and questioned why Crabb was in court at all. “I fear that you know less about this case than possibly anybody else in the courtroom,” Jackson said. “What is the government’s position today?” Crabb said the case’s original prosecutors had approval from U. S. Attorney Timothy Shea to make their recommendation and that their filing was “done in good faith.” He said his under- standing was there had been a “miscommunication” between Barr and Shea, centered on “what the expectations were from the attorney general and what the appropriate filing would be.” He refused to say whether he had written the soft- er sentencing recommendation, which bore his signature, because it would expose “internal deliberations.” Stone had asked for probation, citing his age and lack of a criminal history. Defense attorney Seth Gins- berg said Stone is “a real person, not a media figure, not a political character, but a real p erson,” who is soon to be a great-grandfather. He e mphasized Stone has “devot- ed himself” to various causes — including veterans, animal wel- fare and football players suffer- ing from traumatic brain inju- ries. That, he said, is “who mr. Stone really is — not the larger than life political persona that he plays on TV.” Ginsberg argued that New York City comedian and radio host randy Credico, the witness Stone was convicted of threaten- ing, understood Stone was “all bark and no bite.” Credico also appealed for leniency, saying in a letter to the court: “Stone, at his core, is an insecure person who craves and recklessly pursues attention.... Prison is no reme- dy.” Jackson noted that Stone threatened her personally during the trial and stirred up claims that the process was rigged. Doing so, she said, “will- fully increased the risk that

someone with even poorer judg- ment than” Stone would take action and put the entire courthouse in danger. Barr’s intervention in Stone’s case set off a crisis for the Justice Department, where some wor- ried that Trump — who called the penalty initially suggested by prosecutors “horrible and very unfair” — had pushed his chief law enforcement official to get involved in a criminal case because Stone was the president’s friend. Barr, though, insisted in an ABC News interview that he had made the decision indepen- dent of Trump and issued a remarkable public rebuke, saying Trump’s tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job.” This week, those close to Barr said the a ttorney g eneral has told Trump advisers that he has con- sidered resigning over the president’s tweets. But Trump contin- ued to tweet about the Stone case. This week, he suggested his friend deserved a new t rial — just as the Justice Department, with Barr’s blessing, made clear it had opposed Stone’s request on that front. Like prosecutors, Barr has called Stone’s prosecution “righteous” and added, “I was happy that he was convicted.” Senior Justice Department officials are increasingly resigned to the idea that Trump is likely to continue to publicly upbraid the department and the fBI and that it may be a theme of his reelec- tion campaign — an incumbent president bashing his own Jus- tice Department, an official said. But t he official was also cautious- ly optimistic that the president seems to have avoided dragging Barr directly into those discus- sions in recent days. A Justice Department spokes- woman declined to comment. Stone is one of six Trump advisers a nd confidants who have either been convicted or pleaded guilty in connection with former special counsel robert S. mueller III’s investigation. In Las Vegas, Trump sought to distance himself from his longtime friend. “I know roger, but a lot of people know roger,” he said. “Everybody sort of knows roger.” [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

spencer s. hsu and John Wagner contributed to this report.

Stone case raises concerns over White House intervention

Marvin Joseph/the Washington post Roger stone arrives for his sentencing thursday in Washington. even before the sentencing hearing began, President trump seemed to suggest on twitter that he might pardon his longtime confidant and adviser. Afterward, he attacked the jury in the case and said he would “love to see Roger exonerated.”

bill o’leary/the Washington post Judge Amy Berman Jackson on thursday called Attorney General William P. Barr’s effort to reduce the sentence proposed by the prosecution team “unprecedented.”

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The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

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