There’s been some interesting reporting overnight about the political earthquake that the president of the United States created.
Donald Trump fired acting U.S. attorney general Sally Yates because of her refusal to defend the president’s order banning refugees entering the United States temporarily from certain countries … where Muslims comprise the majority of the population.
Yates is held over from the Obama administration.
Here’s the weird part: Trump and his team reportedly asked Yates to stay on the job until the president could have his own AG confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The president selected her to be the acting attorney general.
Yates is known to be a dedicated career federal prosecutor who has worked in the Justice Department under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
She said she believed the president’s order was unlawful — under her understanding of federal statutes and theĀ U.S. Constitution. I believe it is the duty of the AG — acting or otherwise — to follow the law and not necessarily to do what he or she is told to do by the president.
TrumpĀ chose Yates, who then followed the law.
Then the president accused her of “betraying” the Justice Department. Hit the road, he told her.
And now we have our first potential constitutional crisis.
Just think: It’s Day 11 of the Trump administration.