Trump
fires Acting Attorney General of the United States
Trump
fires Justice Dep't head over clash on refugee ban
President Trump fires Acting Attorney General
Sally Yates after she defies immigration order
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In
an extraordinary public showdown, President Donald Trump fired the acting
attorney general of the United States after she publicly questioned the
constitutionality of his refugee and immigration ban and refused to defend it
in court.
The clash Monday
night between Trump and Sally Yates, a career prosecutor and Democratic
appointee, laid bare the growing discord and dissent surrounding an executive
order that halted the entire U.S. refugee program and banned all entries from
seven Muslim-majority nations for 90 days. The firing, in a written statement
released just hours after Yates went public with her concerns, also served as a
warning to other administration officials that Trump is prepared to terminate
those who refuse to carry out his orders.
Yates' refusal to
defend the executive order was largely symbolic given that Sen. Jeff Sessions,
Trump's pick for attorney general, will almost certainly defend the policy once
he's sworn in. He's expected to be confirmed Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary
Committee and could be approved within days by the full Senate.
Yet the firing
reflected the mounting conflict over the executive order, as administration
officials have moved to distance themselves from the policy and even some of
Trump's top advisers have made clear that they were not consulted on its
implementation.
As protests
erupted at airports across the globe, and as legal challenges piled up in
courthouses, Yates directed agency attorneys not to defend the executive order.
She said in a memo Monday she was not convinced it was lawful or consistent
with the agency's obligation "to stand for what is right."
Trump's press
secretary, Sean Spicer, soon followed with a statement accusing Yates of having
"betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order
designed to protect the citizens of the United States." Trump named
longtime federal prosecutor Dana Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern
District of Virginia, as Yates' replacement. Boente was sworn in privately late
Monday, the White House said, and rescinded Yates's directive.
Also late Monday, the
acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement was removed. The
administration didn't offer any explanation for the move, only said via Twitter
that Daniel Ragsdale is returning to his previous position as deputy director.
ICE executive associate director Thomas Homan was elevated to the role of
acting chief.
Homeland
Security Secretary John Kelly said in a statement that Homan had led efforts
"to identify, arrest, detain, and remove illegal aliens." The
statement didn't mention Ragsdale.
The chain of
events bore echoes of the Nixon-era "Saturday Night Massacre," when
the attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned rather than follow an
order to fire a special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal. The
prosecutor, Archibald Cox, was fired by the solicitor general.
Yates, a
holdover from the Obama administration who was the top federal prosecutor in
Atlanta and later became Loretta Lynch's deputy, was not alone in her
misgivings about the policy and its rollout.
At least three
top national security officials — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland
Security Secretary John Kelly and Rex Tillerson, who is awaiting confirmation
to lead the State Department — have told associates they were not aware of
details of the directive until around the time Trump signed it. Leading
intelligence officials were also left largely in the dark, according to U.S.
officials.
Tennessee Sen. Bob
Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that
despite White House assurances that congressional leaders were consulted, he
learned about the order from the media.
A large group of
career diplomats circulated several drafts of a memo arguing that the order
Trump signed last week will not make the U.S. safe, saying it runs counter to
American values and will fuel anti-American sentiment around the world.
Spicer
challenged those opposed to the measure to resign. "They should either get
with the program or they can go," he said.
Trump's order
pauses America's entire refugee program for four months, indefinitely bans all
those from war-ravaged Syria and temporarily freezes immigration from Iraq,
Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Federal judges in New York and
several other states issued orders that temporarily block the government from
deporting people with valid visas who arrived after Trump's travel ban took
effect and found themselves in limbo.
Yates on Monday said
that she had reviewed the policy and concluded that it was at odds with the
Justice Department's mission. She said that though other lawyers in the
department had reviewed the order, their review had not addressed whether it
was "wise or just."
"I am responsible
for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this
institution's solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is
right," Yates wrote in a letter.
Reminiscent of President
Nixon and the investigation of the Watergate scandal!!!
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