JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/POLITICAL FIGURES: “The head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors said Thursday [1-25-18] that the Justice Department’s warning that sanctuary cities and states could be subject to federal subpoenas was a White House ‘stunt’ intended to turn a planned meeting between mayors and President Donald Trump into a ‘photo-op.’
Landrieu was among the mayors who skipped a planned White House meeting Wednesday that had ostensibly been scheduled to discuss infrastructure. The New Orleans mayor said that meeting took on a new tone after the Justice Department sent letters threatening certain states, counties and cities, among them Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Denver and San Francisco, with subpoenas should they refuse to turn over information regarding policies that bar or discourage the sharing of information about undocumented immigrants in local custody.
In addition to Landrieu, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would skip the White House meeting in the wake of the Justice Department letter. Chicago and Los Angeles Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Eric Garcetti had opted out of the White House meeting before the subpoena threats became public.
Trump, addressing the mayors who attended the meeting, said those who did not show up ‘put the needs of criminal, illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans.’ “
-Louis Nelson, “Landrieu calls DOJ sanctuary city threat a ‘stunt’,” Politico, Jan. 25, 2018 08:44am