Karl Rove: Executive Orders Not Needed for Everything

Many of the executive orders given during President Donald Trump's first full week in office could have been done as presidential memorandums instead, as other actions have been completed that way by presidents in the past, former President George W. Bush's deputy chief of staff Karl Rove said Monday.

"Sometimes things get done in executive orders; other times things get done in memorandums," Rove told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" anchor Bill Hemmer. "Both President [Barack] Obama and President [Donald] Trump like issuing executive orders, even when they may not need to actually issue an executive order in order to get things done that they want to get done."


For example, one of Trump's first orders called for reinstating the "Mexico City" policy against using taxpayer funds to pay for abortions abroad.

"That's because President Obama issued an executive order tearing down the Mexico City policy when he came in," Rove said. "President Bush put the Mexico City policy back in when he came in in 2001 by a memorandum because President [Bill] Clinton had taken the Mexico City policy away by a memorandum. Sometimes you get the same thing by a different way."

Further, Rove said, he is not sure an executive order was needed to start the process for Trump's call for a wall at the Mexican border, as he simply could have directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a plan for the wall, and tell him, if there is spare money, start to build it.

That kind of action would not get the same headlines, Rove admitted, but a press event could still be held around the announcement.

"There is something about those magic words 'executive order' that seems to imply boldness and decisiveness, and requires the press to pay more attention to it," Rove said. "Look, everything a president does is an executive action. An executive order may put it in writing, but when the president calls up the Secretary of Defense and says, 'I want a plan to defeat ISIS and I want it in 60 days,' that has as much authority and power as the president putting that same thing in writing."

• Trump: Why No 'Outrage' From Dems, Media Over Job Flight?
• Trump Sets Tougher Restrictions on Lobbying by Officials