WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is "unbelievably disappointed" that the Obama administration agreed to a deal with Australia to allow mostly Muslim refugees to be resettled in the U.S., according to the White House.
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Still, spokesman Sean Spicer suggested on Thursday that Trump will allow the deal to go forward. He said any refugees who come to the U.S. as part of the deal will go through "extreme vetting."
Trump expressed his anger over the deal in a recent phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Asked Thursday about continuing the deal, Trump said, "We’ll see what happens."
Turnbull insisted Thursday that the deal negotiated with the previous administration was still on, even though Trump called it "dumb" and pledged a review.
A U.S. official confirmed that the agreement became a source of friction on the first telephone call between Trump and Turnbull.
The official described Trump as "very strong" in Saturday’s call and particularly concerned about the deal. The official denied reports that Trump hung up on Turnbull, but acknowledged the call was shorter than Trump’s other discussions with world leaders. The call ended after less than 30 minutes, well earlier than scheduled.
The U.S. official was not authorized to publicly discuss the conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump, in a speech Thursday, appeared to acknowledge the tense phone call, as well as tough talk in an earlier call with the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
"Believe me. When you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having, don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it," he said at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. "They’re tough. We have to be tough. It’s time we’re going to be a little tough folks. We’re taking advantage of by every nation in the world virtually."
Hours before Trump spoke, Turnbull told reporters in Australia that the strength of the U.S.-Australia relationship was evident by the fact that Trump had agreed to honor the deal to resettle refugees from among about 1,600 asylum-seekers, most of whom are on island camps on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Australia has refused to accept them and instead pays for them to be housed on the impoverished islands.
Trump slammed the deal on Twitter.
"Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why?" Trump tweeted. "I will study this dumb deal!"
After the call, Arizona Sen. John McCain said in a statement that he spoke with Joe Hockey, Australia’s ambassador to the United States, and expressed his "unwavering support for the U.S.-Australia alliance."
McCain noted a long and growing history of military cooperation between the two countries. Australia hosts more deployments of U.S. aircraft, more regular port visits by American, and training for Marines at Robertson Barracks in Darwin, he said.
"This deepening cooperation is a reminder that from maintaining security and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region to combatting radical Islamist terrorism, the U.S-Australia relationship is more important than ever," McCain said.
"I can assure you the relationship is very strong," Turnbull said. "The fact we received the assurance that we did, the fact that it was confirmed, the very extensive engagement we have with the new administration underlines the closeness of the alliance. But as Australians know me very well: I stand up for Australia in every forum — public or private."
Details of their call were first reported by the Washington Post, which said Trump called the refugee agreement "the worst deal ever" and accused Turnbull of seeking to export the "next Boston bombers" — a reference to brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who were born in Kyrgyzstan. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a U.S. citizen; Tamerlan Tsarnaev, killed in a shootout with police several days after the April 2013 bombing, had sought citizenship but had not had his application granted.
The Trump-Turnbull call took place a day after Trump signed an executive order suspending the admission of refugees. During the call, Trump complained that he was "going to get killed" politically by the refugee deal with Australia, according to the Post, citing anonymous officials.
"I don’t want these people," Trump reportedly said.
Trump also told Turnbull that he had spoken to four world leaders that day and that: "This is the worst call by far."
Trump told Turnbull that it was "my intention" to honor the agreement, a phrase designed to leave the president wriggle room to back out of the deal, the newspaper reported.
Turnbull has likened himself to Trump in that both are wealthy businessmen who came to politics late in life. Turnbull also has a reputation for blunt conversation and tough negotiations behind closed doors.
Turnbull has resisted pressure this week to join other Western leaders in condemning Trump’s temporary ban of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Some observers suspect Turnbull has held his tongue because he is grateful to Trump for agreeing to honor the refugee deal.
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