Rachel Maddow announced on her Thursday night MSNBC segment that they obtained a document that appears to be a "stake in the heart of the Muslim ban — for the new president's travel, refugee, Muslim ban."
Maddow outlined the legal battles and controversy that ensued after President Donald Trump signed the initial executive order that lead to chaos across the country. "Now it's Thursday — where's the Muslim ban?" Maddow asked.
"Here's the thing, this is one of the only things they've tried to do in terms of policy. Notice how it's fallen apart? Not going anywhere? Here's the thing, they do have a problem here and I can show you part of that problem," Maddow said before outlining the document they obtained from the Department of Homeland Security's office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A).
Maddow noted that the same agency prepared an analysis of the Muslim ban that was obtained by the Associated Press last week. The document offered a "fairly devastating blow against the Muslim ban." It was titled, "Citizenship Likely an Unreliable Indicator of Terrorist Threat to the United States."
"So if you're really going after terrorism, you're really trying to spot and stop terrorists, just banning citizens of some list of countries does not make any sense in national security terms," said Maddow, before leaking the following.
"The Department of Homeland Security has tonight confirmed to us that this is authentic, that this is real," Maddow said. The document, which was published by the same office as the previous report, was also coordinated with Customs and Border Protection, the State Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the National Counterterrorism Center, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
The new report was titled, "Most Foreign-Born U.S.-Based Violent Extremists Radicalized After Entering Homeland."
"And why is that important?" Maddow asked, noting that according to the document, "the ability of screening and vetting officials to prevent their entry because of national security concerns" is limited.
"Oh, right, so much for extreme vetting. The whole justification, the whole explanation from this administration for the Muslim ban was to stop people coming into this country, at least for a while," she said, quoting Trump saying it's temporary "until we can figure out what the hell is going on."
"So, this tells us substantively, in terms of the substance of the matter that the intelligence community thinks the Muslim ban is nuts," said Maddow. "One of the only things [this administration has] tried to do is this Muslim ban and it's a disaster," Maddow argued. "I think the Muslim ban is dead."
Watch her full remarks below.
