WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump lashed out Monday at signs of rising public opposition to his controversial travel ban as tech giants threw their weight behind a push in US courts to roll it back.
With the ban suspended since Friday, the legal battle has moved to San Francisco, where a US court of appeals gave the administration until Monday evening to submit a brief defending Trump’s January 27 decision.
The president’s executive order summarily denied entry to all refugees, and travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — a move critics charge will damage US interests.
Despite initial public support, two new polls show that a majority of Americans now oppose the ban, which sparked chaos at US airports — findings that Trump angrily dismissed as media lies.
“Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election,” he said on Twitter. “Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.”
Trump, who paid a visit to US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, lashed out again at the media — accusing them of downplaying the threat of terrorism which his administration has cited to justify its travel ban.
