WASHINGTON White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday defended President Donald Trump s executive order halting travel and immigration from six majority-Muslim countries by claiming that the administration has been consistent on referring to it as a ban.

I know how we talked about this from the first day of this administration: as a travel ban, he said. Weve been very consistent since the first day of this administration on this.

Ive been very clear, Spicer added. I dont think I need to clarify what we have said or what the president said.

A federal court in Virginia this week is weighing the constitutionality of the executive order . One of the central questions in the case is whether Trumps anti-Muslim rhetoric and the way he and administration officials have referred to the executive order can be used against him, in order to prove whether it intended to discriminate against Muslims.