One of the little items he’s trying to hustle through while no one is looking –

[T]he draft of a Trump administration executive order that spilled into public view early Wednesday — a document that raised the prospect of reviving C.I.A. “black site” prisons like those where terrorism suspects were once detained and tortured — has the potential to further fracture a national security team already divided over one of the most controversial policies of the post-9/11 era.

The White House disclaimed the document, which was leaked to The New York Times and other news organizations, but three administration officials said the White House had circulated it among National Security Council staff members for review on Tuesday morning. And many of its proposals — which also include halting transfers out of the Guantánamo Bay prison and sending new detainees there, which President Barack Obama refused to do — echo years of Republican national security policy and President Trump’s own speeches.

If there’s something evil that can be done, Trump will want to do it. That’s apparently who he is. He always errs on the side of sadism, violation of rights, brute force, violence, punishment, revenge. It’s what attracts him.

Mr. Trump said on Wednesday, as he had several times during the presidential campaign, that he thought torturing terrorism suspects was justified. But in an interview with ABC News, the president also said he would defer to Mr. Mattis and Mr. Pompeo.

“I will rely on Pompeo and Mattis and my group,” Mr. Trump said. “And if they don’t want to do, that’s fine. If they do want to do, then I will work toward that end. I want to do everything within the bounds of what you’re allowed to do legally. But do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works.”

He “feels” it works – based, I’ll wager, on nothing. It’s what he “feels,” off the top of his head, and he’s confident that that’s good enough. He’s never had to justify his own claims, and he has no idea either how to do it or that it’s necessary.

Asked about the draft order during a press briefing on Wednesday, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said that it was “not a White House document” and that he had “no idea where it came from.” He complained about “reports’ being published attributing documents to the White House that are not White House documents.”

But the three administration officials familiar with the document, who discussed internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity, portrayed that account as false. They said the White House had circulated the draft order among national security staff members in the same way that a flurry of other pending executive orders had been distributed for review: with no warning and scant time to provide comments.

So they’re still sticking with the “tell lies” approach.

On Wednesday, some Republicans and many Democrats reacted angrily to the draft executive order, saying they would not stand for any attempt to circumvent or weaken laws against torture.

“Even the suggestion that we may bring back these discredited policies does serious damage to our international standing and will make our allies in the fight against terror wary about cooperating with us,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that these grievous mistakes of the past are never repeated.”

Thanks, Donnie.