Abortion faceoff
Nadler seeks immig info from ex-Don aide
WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler is giving a former Trump administration official a chance to “clarify” why he said he didn’t do something that it now appears he did — track menstrual cycles of migrant girls in U.S. custody and pressure them against having abortions.
The official, Scott Lloyd, is a long-time anti-abortion crusader who led the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the height of Trump’s policy of separating children from asylum-seeking parents at the border.
Lloyd denied suspicions raised at a Judiciary Committee late last month that he was tracking the pregnancies of 12- to 17-year-olds, including keeping spread sheets detailing how they were impregnated, whether it was consensual, and when they last had a period, among other things.
“I am denying that I tracked menstrual cycles of women in my custody,” Lloyd said at the Feb. 26 hearing.
But MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow’s Show” obtained a 28-page spreadsheet last week that did tracked exactly the sorts of things the committee asked about.
In a letter asking Lloyd to return to the committee to explain by April 12, Nadler also noted that in a deposition the committee has obtained from December — more than two months before Lloyd’s hearing — that Lloyd did admit pressuring girls to keep pregnancies they wanted to abort.
“You admitted that you did visit at least one pregnant unaccompanied minor while she was in ORR custody,” Nadler wrote. “In that deposition, you also admitted to speaking on the phone with at least one other pregnant unaccompanied minor where the topic of abortion was discussed.”
Nadler also pointed out that Lloyd can be forced to explain himself.
“I have asked my staff to work with yours to give you an opportunity to clarify these and other matters on a voluntary basis,” Nadler wrote. “Failing that, we would expect to pursue a date and time for a formal deposition.”