Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan testified to senators on Thursday that President Trump never asked him “to do anything unlawful,” refuting reports that Mr. Trump had promised to pardon him if he blocked migrants from entering the U.S.
“That is not the context of the conversation,” Mr. McAleenan told the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Mr. McAleenan’s exchange with Mr. Trump came during a visit to the border in California a month ago, just a couple days before the president ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and slated Mr. McAleenan to take her job.
Mr. Trump, desperate to stop the surge of illegal immigrants that had reached 100,000 in March, said publicly that the U.S. was “full” and migrants should be turned away.
While visiting part of the border wall, he reportedly told Mr. McAleenan — at the time head of Customs and Border Protection — that if his Border Patrol agents and port of entry officers turned people around then got in trouble for breaking the law, he would offer pardons.
Mr. McAleenan has since said he didn’t feel he was asked to break the law, and on Thursday put that on the record to Congress.
“I’ve not been asked to do anything unlawful by the president of the United States,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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