4/ Here's the kicker - in Nov 2017 this article dropped.
SPLC describes as: The Trump administration has, since at least June, been separating children from parents [, identifying] 22 cases of parents whose children were taken without due process.
5/ The time between the claim of ignorance, Dec, and the HC article, Nov, is not a lot, but given this is the business of HHS, and their was talk in public domain as early as, Mar, it at least makes me wonder if they don't read the newspapers.
6/
Given the nature of the issue, it would seem important.
Characterizing Trump as "desperate", because it is so often qualified as "failing" or "struggling against the odds" is another way we underestimate him. There is little, if anything, to stop his theft of this election.
People cite his treatment of his own supporters as him 'taking everything out with him' when he's taken out of office. In fact he treats them that way because he's confident he's got his theft in the pocket and he's never cared about them.
This conclusion that he will not be held stopped can be easily extrapolated from the fact that it is only law that enforces elections and he has a crime list a mile long, including against children and babies, and nobody is stopping any of that.