Here’s where things stand heading into Day 18 of the Trump administration: President Trump is tweeting, lawsuits are multiplying, and escalation to the Supreme Court seems imminent.

Iranian-born bioengineer researcher Nima Enayati holds up his boarding pass at the Milan’s Malpensa International airport in Busto Arsizio, Italy on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017. Just hours after an appeals court blocked an attempt to re-impose the travel ban, Iranian researcher Nima Enayati checked in on an Emirates Airline flight direct from Milan’s Malpensa airport to New York’s JFK on Sunday afternoon.

2 states say allowing travel ban would ‘unleash chaos again’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Washington state and Minnesota have told a federal appellate court that restoring President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries would “unleash chaos again.”

The filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco came early Monday after the White House said it expected the federal courts to reinstate the ban.

Washington and Minnesota said their underlying lawsuit was strong and a nationwide temporary restraining order was appropriate. If the appellate court reinstated Trump’s ban the states said the “ruling would reinstitute those harms, separating families, stranding our university students and faculty, and barring travel.”

The rapid-fire legal maneuvers by the two states were accompanied by briefs filed by the technology industry arguing that the travel ban would harm their companies by making it more difficult to recruit employees. Tech giants like Apple and Google, along with Uber, filed their arguments with the court late Sunday.

Trump’s executive order was founded on a claim of national security, but lawyers for the two states told the appellate court the administration’s move hurts residents, businesses and universities and is unconstitutional.

The next opportunity for Trump’s team to argue in favor of the ban will come in the form of a response to the Washington state and Minnesota filings. The 9th Circuit ordered the U.S. Justice Department to file its briefs by 6 p.m. EST Monday. It had already turned down a Justice request to set aside immediately a Seattle judge’s ruling that put a temporary hold on the ban nationwide.

In the latest filing, lawyers for Washington state and Minnesota said: “Defendants now ask this Court to unleash chaos again by staying the district court order. The Court should decline.”

Bob Ferguson, Washington state’s attorney general, said “we don’t argue” that Trump has authority to act in the interest of national security. But in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, he also said “we have checks and balances” in the country, maintaining the president’s order was “unconstitutional” and saying president’s don’t have “unfettered authorization” in these cases.

Lawyers ready to battle over Trump’s travel ban

Elise Viebeck, The Washington Post

Welcome to the second weekend of Trump’s controversial travel ban, which barred refugees and people from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the country. Here’s what happened over the past three days.

On Friday, a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked enforcement of the ban nationwide, allowing travelers previously barred from entering the country to board U.S.-bound planes. Trump, as you might expect, was not happy with the decision, and he used Twitter to criticize the judge who made it. “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” he tweeted Saturday morning.

On Saturday night, lawyers for the Trump administration filed a notice to appeal the decision. On Sunday, a federal appeals court ruled against the government, saying the immigration ban will remain suspended for now. Monday and Tuesday are expected to see more action as lawyers for both sides file written arguments. After that, the court could schedule a hearing or rule whether the ban should remain suspended. And the developments won’t stop there: Remember, this is just one of the many legal battles springing up over Trump’s ban across the country.

In the meantime, Trump’s criticism of U.S. District Judge James Robart as a “so-called judge” continues to reverberate, drawing rebuke from some Republicans.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t understand language like that,” Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said Sunday. “We don’t have so-called judges, we don’t have so-called senators, we don’t have so-called presidents.”

Trump raises eyebrows with strong defense of Putin

The other matter distancing Trump from would-be Republican allies is Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump mounted a strong defense of Putin over the weekend during an interview with Fox News, even attempting to neutralize host Bill O’Reilly’s description of Putin as a “killer.”

“There are a lot of killers,” Trump said, seeming to equate the United States with Russia. “We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., rejected any comparison in a separate interview Sunday, calling Putin a “former KGB agent” and a “thug.”

“I do think America is exceptional. America is different,” McConnell said on CNN. “We don’t operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think there’s a clear distinction here that all Americans understand, and no, I would not have characterized it that way.”

As for Vice President Pence, he once again found himself veering from Trump on the question of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. “We’re very troubled by the increased hostilities over the past week,” he said on ABC.

Pence to lead voting investigation, Trump says

Furthermore, Trump still believes – without evidence — that 3 to 5 million illegal votes cost him the popular vote in his election battle against Hillary Clinton. Now, after promising an investigation, he announced who is going to run it.

“I’m going to set up a commission . . . headed by Vice President Mike Pence, and we’re going to look at it very, very carefully,” Trump told Fox News.

Trump described the alleged problem like this: “When you see people that are registered in two states, that have voted in two states, when you see other things, when you see illegals, people that are not citizens, and they are on the registration rolls.”

It’s not uncommon for voters to be on rolls in more than one state.

Trump still benefiting from business, documents show

Ethics experts urged Trump to set up a blind trust to protect himself against conflicts of interest while in office. And he has set up a trust, but he is much closer to it than those experts would like. According to newly released documents, Trump is the sole beneficiary of the trust created to separate him from his business. The trust is legally controlled by his oldest son and a longtime employee. Trump also retains the legal power to revoke the trust at any time, the documents show.

As our colleagues wrote, this is the kind of situation those ethics experts feared: “While Trump has promised he will observe a separation between his business and the presidency, he retains ownership of the business and will personally benefit if the business profits from decisions made by his government.”

Where things stand on Capitol Hill

This week, Senate action on Trump’s nominees will be less of a frenzy and more a concentration of big developments.

Education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos is scheduled to receive a floor vote Tuesday, and she has no support to spare after Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said they would oppose her confirmation. Democrats are hoping they can peel off one pro-DeVos vote and sink her nomination, but it’s unclear whom they could turn at this point. The White House says it’s confident DeVos will be confirmed.

Next up to receive floor votes — though none has been scheduled yet — are attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., health and human services secretary nominee Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., and treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin.

Also on the calendar for this week is a Tuesday vote in the Committee on Veterans Affairs for VA secretary nominee David Shulkin.