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Thursday 8 March 2018 - 08:23

Trump administration is ‘full of liars’: California Gov. Jerry Brown

Story Code : 709938
California Governor Jerry Brown gestures as Attorney General Xavier Becerra laughs during a press conference at the California State Capitol on March 7, 2018 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by AFP)
California Governor Jerry Brown gestures as Attorney General Xavier Becerra laughs during a press conference at the California State Capitol on March 7, 2018 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by AFP)
The Democratic governor made the remarks on Wednesday as Sessions visited Sacramento where he later announced a federal lawsuit against California for its so-called sanctuary policies of non-cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
 
Sessions also slammed California’s elected officials who support so-called sanctuary city policies as "extremists" promoting "open borders."
 
"Stop treating immigration agents differently from everybody else for the purpose of eviscerating border and immigration laws and advancing an open borders philosophy shared by only a few, the most radical extremists," he said.
 
Supporters of “sanctuary” policies contend that such laws make communities safer by allowing local police to cooperate with immigrant communities and focus time and resources on duties other than deportation.
 
In September, Trump said he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protected hundreds of thousands of young undocumented migrants, known as Dreamers, from deportation.
 
However, Trump gave Congress six months to develop a legislative solution to provide the path to citizenship for Dreamers. That deadline passed on Monday without Congress any action. 
 
In denouncing Sessions' visit to the state's capital city as a "political stunt" that was full of "lies" and untruths, Brown hit at the attorney general personally and his relationship with Trump.  
 
"I do think this is pure red meat for the base, and I would assume -- this is pure speculation -- that Jeff thinks Donald will be happier with him and I bet Donald will be tweeting his joy with this stunt," Brown said.
 
Special counsel Robert "Mueller is closing in. There are more indictments to come. So obviously the attorney general has found it hard to be just a normal attorney general. He's been caught up in the whirlwind," Brown added.
 
The special counsel is investigating Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and whether there was any collusion between Moscow and Trump’s election campaign.
 
Russia has denied interfering in the election, and Trump has said there was no collusion.
 
Brown said Sessions was acting "more like Fox News than a law enforcement officer" in his visit.
 
"Look, we know the Trump administration is full of liars," he said. "They've pled guilty already to the special counsel. ... What Jeff Sessions said is simply not true and I call upon him to apologize to the people of California for bringing the mendacity of Washington to California, and trying to insert discord and dysfunction ... to a state that's actually working."
 
A grand-jury subpoena from Mueller has targeted Trump and the majority of his election campaign team, according to a recent report.
 
Among the people listed in the subpoena are outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen and the president's former strategist Steve Bannon, as well as Carter Page, Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort.
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