REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Staffers for congressional Republicans helped draft Trump's refugee ban without informing their employers, then signed nondisclosure agreements, Politico reports. The ban, signed Friday evening, reportedly blindsided GOP legislators, who had not been consulted or informed of the executive order. But senior staff with the House Judiciary Committee reportedly worked in secret with members of the Trump administration to draft the ban, which bars immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte was not "consulted by the administration on the executive order," an aide told Politico. These aides reportedly began working on the legislation during Trump's transition period, before his Jan. 20 inauguration. Their secret work and alleged nondisclosure agreements are highly unusual in Congress, where legislators complained of being given no advance notice of the executive order.