WASHINGTON (AP) — A day before the anniversary of 9/11, President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to expand the administration's ability to go after terrorists and their financiers and supporters.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo briefed reporters at the White House Tuesday on the order, which updates an executive directive on counterterrorism that former President George W. Bush signed after 9/11.
Mnuchin says Trump's order provides new tools to pursue individuals engaged in terrorist training. He says it also authorizes secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that knowingly do business with sanctioned militants and affiliated entities.
Using the new order, the administration announced it was targeting more than two dozen suspected terrorists and their supporters who previously had been out of reach from existing sanctions authority.