Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 28, 2017
White House reveals Trump only decided on transgender ban yesterday
President Donald Trump sent out a series of tweets Wednesday morning saying that transgender people wouldn’t be allowed to serve in the U.S. military ‘in any capacity’ with no plan in place for active duty transgender personnel.
February 3, 2017
‘This was a decision based on what was the best for the military and military cohesion and on the counsel of his national security team,’ said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was bombarded with questions about the ban at a televised press briefing.
With no details available, she offered no immediate assurance that a transgender service member wouldn’t have to get sent home from a deployment in a place like Afghanistan.
‘That’s something that the Department of Defense and the White House will have to work together as implementation takes place and is done so lawfully,’ Huckabee Sanders said.
‘The implementation of the policy is going to be something that the White House and the Department of Defense have to work together to lawfully determine.’
Her comment came after a flat-footed Pentagon spokesman told reporters asking for details about the new policy announced on Twitter to ‘call the White House.’
Huckabee Sanders said Trump reached the decision ‘based on consultation that he’s had with his national security team’ to reach the conclusion.
She repeatedly cited ‘unit cohesion’ as the reason, and batted back inquiries about Trump’s campaign statements to be there to protect gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans.
‘When the president made the decision yesterday, the secretary of defense was immediately informed, of as were the rest of the national security team that had been part of this ongoing conversation,’ said Huckabee Sanders.
‘Sometimes you have to make decisions and once he made a decision, he didn’t feel it was necessary to hold that decision and they’re going to work together with the Department of Defense to lawfully implement it,’ she said.(Source: Daily Mail)