President Donald Trump's decision Wednesday to bar transgender Americans from the military solely affects the nation's armed services and does not go back on his commitment to the LGBTQ community, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
"The president has a lot of support for all Americans and certainly wants to protect all Americans at all times," she told reporters at the daily briefing.
"The president's expressed concerns since this Obama policy came into effect, but he's also voiced that this is a very comprehensive and disruptive policy.
"Based on consultation that he's had with his national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion and made the decision based on that."
Trump tweeted the policy change, reversed last year by former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Wednesday without saying what would happen to transgender people already serving.
"The decision is based on a military decision," Sanders said. "It's not meant to be anything more than that.
"Obviously, it's a very difficult decision. It's not a simple one.
"But the president feels that it's the best one for the military."
She said that Trump reached his decision Tuesday after consulting with the Pentagon and that implementation details would be worked out with the Defense Department and other agencies.
"The secretary of defense [James Mattis] was immediately informed, as was the rest of the national security team that had been part of this ongoing conversation," Sanders told reporters.
"Sometimes, you have to make decisions," she later added. "Once he made a decision, he didn't feel it was necessary to hold that decision.
"They're going to work together with the Department of Defense to lawfully implement it."
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