Today the AP broke the story that the Trump administration is considering mobilizing "as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants," adding that the sweep will take place "as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans, Louisiana." The AP got this information from an 11-page memo written by US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, adding that state governors would have the choice on whether they should participate or not. Read the story here.
Unsurprisingly, the internet hit the roof about this. This inspired White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to flatly deny the story.
This is not true. DHS also confirms it is 100% false https://t.co/MFIJci7XaU
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) February 17, 2017
Bearing that in mind, here's a very important piece of that AP article:
Requests to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment and a status report on the proposal were not answered.
This begs the questions: Is the White House simply flat-out lying about a plan that's been kicking around the DHS for two weeks, and which staffers admit has been seriously discussed? Or is this an insidious scheme by Trump's Legion of Doom (Bannon, Miller, Spicer, et al.) to leak a story they may not be seriously considering, not respond to reporters' questions about it, and then squeal "FAKE NEWS!" to further damage the image of investigative journalism? The latter theory is certainly what some people on Twitter are saying:
AP says they requested comment from both WH and DHS on their story, why did they wait to deny after it drops? https://t.co/qDSvuayZht
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) February 17, 2017
playbook seems to be:
1- leak outrageous memo
2- don't deny
3- press runs it
4- wh denies and adds to "fake news"
trump is destroying press https://t.co/hBUwVb2vnj
— George Melika (@gmelika) February 17, 2017
Because then they can decry the press for reporting "fake news". White House has used this tactic several times already. https://t.co/e5OqmD63Uy
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 17, 2017
You can't have millions of people of color living in fear and do it any other way https://t.co/3vQLrXiCf6
— Andrea Grimes (@andreagrimes) February 17, 2017
YOU MAKE THE CALL!