***NOTE TO EDS: THIS PRESUMES YOU RUN THE STORY AFTER PRESIDENT TRUMP UNVEILS HIS SUPREME COURT PICK. IF YOU RUN IT BEFORE 8PM ET, PLEASE ADJUST THE INTRODUCTION ACCORDINGLY. (THE PIECE MAKES NO MENTION OF THE SCOTUS ANNOUNCEMENT)***
Before President Trump unveiled his Supreme Court nominee, Washington was still digesting the fallout from the troubled rollout of the President's immigration orders.
Republican officials conceded on Tuesday that the implementation of the President's plan was "regrettable".
But at the White House, top administration officials started arguing that it's wrong even to call the President's restrictions a "travel ban".
With that story, here's our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks.
IN: "When is a travel…."
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When is a travel ban not a travel ban?
In Washington that is no longer an academic question.
You might think, given that the President of the United States has consistently referred to his executive order on immigration as a "ban" that the question wouldn't arise at all.
Here he is on Saturday….proudly talking it up.
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As late as Monday he was still using the word in postings on Twitter.
He explained the he introduced the ban without providing any advance notice in a bid to stop what he called "a lot of bad dudes" from trying to "rush" into the country.
But on Tuesday, the "B" word was suddenly placed on the naughty list.
The first we heard of it came from John Kelly, the President's choice to head the Department of Homeland Security.
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Not a travel ban, then but a "temporary pause".
At the White House, they went further….press secretary Shaun Spicer in his now-daily battle with the media….blamed reporters for daring to suggest the closure of the country's borders to people from 7 predominantly Muslim nations is a ban.
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But hold on a minute, said the reporters…..it was the President who called it a ban.
And a "very very strict one" to boot.
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Yes he really did say that….and there was more.
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So it went from a "ban" to a "temporary pause" to "extreme vetting" all in the space of about an hour.
But what about those numbers Shaun Spicer quoted.
He likes numbers….he uses them quite a lot.
Listen to the ones he cited in Monday's press briefing.
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Well it turns out those statistics weren't quite true.
Far more people than a mere 109 were detained by immigration officials over the weekend…..and John Kelly, head of the Department of Homeland Security, indicated in his remarks to reporters that the White House really ought to have known that.
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So that's nice and clear.
Let's go back to the White House for a touch more clarification.
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Aren't you glad we got that sorted out?
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