Judge Orders Release Of Communications Between Rudy Giuliani, Trump Admin On Travel Order

A federal judge in Michigan ordered the government to turn over communications between former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other advisers regarding President Donald Trump's travel ban, both versions of which have been blocked by courts not long after being announced by the administration.

The judge ordered the documents released as a result of a lawsuit filed in Michigan by the Arab American Civil Rights League, the ACLU of Michigan and others, which challenged the constitutionality of Trump's executive order that temporarily suspends the issuance of new visas to nationals of six majority Muslim countries and also temporarily suspends the refugee program. The government contends that the order, titled "Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States," was put in place to keep the nation safe, however many have pointed to the president's past statements as evidence that the order is meant to discriminate against Muslims.

The lawsuit in Michigan is not the one that led to the injunction blocking the executive order. Less than 24 hours before the order, issued March 6, was set to go into effect, a judge in Hawaii issued a temporary injunction against the order, effectively blocking it. Soon after, a judge in Maryland also blocked the part of the order that temporarily suspended the issuance of new visas to nationals of Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Afghanistan.

In requesting the documents, the plaintiffs specifically requested a copy of the "memorandum" or "white paper" that "Rudolph Giuliani and others provided to Donald J. Trump or others working for or on behalf of the Trump Campaign in approximately May to July 2016, which was discussed extensively by Mr. Giuliani during public appearances on or about July 8, 2016, November 13, 2016 and January 28, 2017."

The public appearance on Jan. 28 refers to an appearance by Giuliani on Fox News where he spoke with anchor Judge Jeanine Pirro about the first version of the travel order, which was struck down by courts and later rescinded by the administration. A watered down version of the order is the one currently being argued about in various courts.

"When he first announced it he said Muslim ban," Giuliani says on the segment. "He called me up, he said put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally."

"We focused on, instead of religion, danger, the areas of the world that create danger," he said. (You can watch the entire segment here.) In an interview with The Washington Post, Giuliani said that his comments on Fox News had been misinterpreted.

The request for the documents also cites public statements by others working on the ban, including Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Susan Phelan, Spokeswoman for the House Committee on Homeland Security.

U.S. District Judge Victoria A. Roberts ordered that the memo provided to Trump by Giuliani be released by May 19 and other documents requested in the case be released by June 2. In the order, Roberts noted that the government has argued in various cases that statements made by Trump prior to his becoming president may not be considered as they were made outside of the formal government decision-making process. She wrote that the government cannot repeatedly make this argument and later assert executive privilege when objecting "to discovery regarding information related to pre-inauguration Trump."

The government can still object to the requests made for the documents.

Last week, an appeals court in Virginia heard arguments in the lawsuit that led to an injunction blocking part of the executive order. On Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case brought by the state of Hawaii that led to the injunction that blocked both parts of the executive order.

Pictured: New York City activists rallied against Trump's first ban at JFK Airport in January. Photo by Simone Wilson/Patch