Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said he is “very proud” of President Trump for his decision to issue an executive order ending the separation of families at the border.
“Thank you @POTUS for doing the right thing,” Scaramucci tweeted. “I agree that we’ve got to keep families together.”
Scaramucci, a Trump ally, on Monday criticized the administration’s policy of separating migrant children from families caught crossing the border illegally. He called the policy “inhumane and cruel,” but added that the “president is a humane guy.”
“He’s doing an amazing job on so many different fronts and he doesn’t need this type of visual or this type of imagery,” Scaramucci said on CNN’s “New Day.”
Trump could sign the executive order, which he said is intended to keep families together, as soon as Wednesday, according to The New York Times.
In a string of tweets on Wednesday, Scaramucci said the so-called “zero-tolerance” policy was implemented due to “bad advice” from Chief of Staff John Kelly.
“[Trump] was getting bad advice and info from his Chief of Staff, who started pushing this policy in March 2017 while at DHS,” Scaramucci tweeted.
In early April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy that requires the Justice Department to prosecute all people who cross the border illegally.
In accordance with that, DHS officials have been separating children from family members awaiting prosectution.
Reports suggest Kelly, along with White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, pushed for the policy.
Scaramucci tweeted that Trump did not sign an executive order sooner because he “was a bit preoccupied with trying to prevent nuclear war,” a reference to the North Korea summit.