Summary Donald Trump's administration ramped up the rhetoric on Tuesday over the threat of militant attacks
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Donald Trump s administration ramped up the rhetoric on Tuesday over the threat of militant attacks, accusing US courts and the media of downplaying the danger, hours before a key hearing on the travel ban decreed by the president in the name of national security.
Hosting a group of American sheriffs at the White House, Trump hammered home the rationale for his executive order closing US borders to refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations: it is "common sense," he said.
"It is very important for the country," he said of the ban, which barred entry to all refugees for 120 days, and to travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.
Trump acknowledged that the legal showdown touched off last Friday when a federal judge suspended the measure nationwide, may well end up before the Supreme Court - while voicing hope it would not come to that.
The case currently rests with a federal court of appeals in San Francisco which has set a telephone hearing for 3.00pm Pacific Time.
With his most emblematic measure to date facing a wall of judicial opposition - challenged in a lawsuit backed by corporate giants, rights group and 16 US states - Trump reverted to a now-familiar strategy of lashing out at the media.
On Monday, he accused "dishonest" news outfits of deliberately downplaying the terror threat that his administration cites to justify its ban, saying they purposefully failed to report on past jihadist atrocities.
The White House later distributed a list of 78 attacks it said were "executed or inspired by" the Islamic State group, saying most "have not received the media attention they deserved."
The list includes numerous atrocities that dominated global headlines for days - from the Paris attacks of Nov 13, 2015 to the Nice truck-attack of Jun 14, 2016 or the San Bernardino mass shooting in California in December 2015.
"I understand the total dishonesty of the media, better than anybody and I let people know it," Trump declared on Tuesday.
The media has not been Trump s only target: He has also hit out at the federal judge responsible for freezing his immigration order, allowing banned travelers to start trickling back into the country.
After dismissing James Robart at the weekend as a "so-called" judge - a slur that drew criticism from inside his own Republican camp - Trump sought to pin blame on the courts for potential future attacks on US soil.
"Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!" he tweeted on Sunday.
In a filing on Monday to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the Justice Department called for the ban to be reinstated, arguing that the executive order is "a lawful exercise of the president s authority over the entry of aliens into the United States and the admission of refugees."
More than 120 Silicon Valley giants led by Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter have meanwhile joined the lawsuit against the ban, arguing that it threatens their ability to attract crucial foreign talent and investment to the United States.
If the San Francisco ruling upholds the ban s suspension, the high-stakes legal battle will move to the Supreme Court, which would need to weigh in by a majority of five on the eight-seat bench to overturn the appeal court ruling.
That scenario is far from guaranteed with the Supreme Court currently evenly split between four conservative and four liberal justices.
Trump s controversial immigration order - which initially appeared to enjoy widespread support - is now opposed by a majority of Americans: The split is 53-47 per cent according to a CNN poll, 51-45 per cent according to a CBS poll.
The Republican president has dismissed the polls as lies. "Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election," he tweeted on Monday. "Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting."
Meanwhile the travel ban continued to fuel international criticism of the incoming US leader.
Iran s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lashed out at Trump in a speech to military officers in Tehran. "We are thankful to this gentleman ... he showed the real face of America," Khamenei said.
"What we have said for more than 30 years - that there is political, economic, moral and social corruption in the ruling system of the US - this gentleman came and brought it out into the open in the election and after the election."
