IMMIGRATION/TRAVEL BAN: "Inside President Donald Trump’s political team, the travel ban was something of a secret.
Even before Mr. Trump won the election, aides were working up a plan to make good on a campaign pledge to keep potential terrorists from slipping into the U.S.
They kept the circle tight as the work stretched from the campaign to the transition and then the White House. If the word seeped out, they said, terrorists would enter the country before the new barriers were in place. There was another benefit of staying mum: It would keep opponents guessing about precisely what the incoming president had in mind."
– “Trump Team Kept Plan for Travel Ban Quiet,” Jan 29, 2017, Peter Nicholas, Damien Paletta, and Devlin Barrett, 1/29/2017