Nixon We Mean Trump Just Fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates For Telling Him No
if the president does it, that means it's NOT illegal!
Have you met Sally Yates, the (until QUITE recently) acting Attorney General? A lot of us didn't make her acquaintance until roughly four hours ago, when it was made known that she was instructing Justice Department lawyers not to defend "President" Donald Trump's Muslim Ban in court. It "might," she said, not be "legal."
It was a story, we thought, that would keep until morning. Oh, how young we were then!
Minutes ago, "President" Donald Trump announced he had fired Sally Yates, acting Attorney General, and his statement, my, it is a doozy. If his staffers can do nothing else, they sure can write in his voice:
That is a very presidential statement, very wow and bigly! If you can't embiggen on your Jitterbug phone, it says,
The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States. This order was approved as to form and legality by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel. [...]
Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration. [...]
[Dana Boente will] serve as Acting Attorney General until Senator Jeff Sessions is finally confirmed by the Senate, where he is being wrongly held up by Democrat senators for strictly political reasons.
Hmmm, let's take this seriously and also literally:
"Betray" seems like kind of a harsh term, dude, unless you are actually going to send her to The Killing Fields, which, I am not sure she even wears glasses!
The Office of Legal Counsel confirms it signed off on the "form" of Trump's Muslim ban, but refused to say whether it found the executive order "lawful." Details! And fun fact! The current head of the OLC, Curtis Gannon, was clerk to Antonin Scalia, not that we'd pull a cheap trick like guilt by association.
As to the White House's insistence that the Muslim Ban order was legal -- it's not, on its face. If the Trump Administration wants to ban people based on national origin, it needs Congress to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which is now 8 U.S. Code 1152. And the Supreme Court would still get to weigh in too, ifAndrew Jackson Steve BannonDonald Trump hasn't already asked them "them and what army."
(Oh, the text of that law reads: "No person shall receive any preference or priority or be discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the person’s race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence." So you can see why even Not A Lawyers would think that was reasonably cut and dried.)
And Jeff Sessions being "held up" by those mean Democrats? Yeah, we're not even dignifying that with a "fuck you."
war by Wikipedia (h/t to Wonkette Operative SugarplumCheryl )
Anything else of concern, New York Times?
Mr. Trump has the authority to fire Ms. Yates, but as the top Senate-confirmed official at the Justice Department, she is the only one authorized to sign foreign surveillance warrants, an essential function at the department.
Isn't it ... interesting that he just fired the only person with the authority to sign FISA warrants considering the Justice Department & FBI's open investigations into Trump's alleged ties to Russia (pee hookers)?
Not to fear, some dick was only too happy to Robert Bork it:
"I am honored to serve President Trump in this role until Senator Sessions is confirmed," new Acting Attorney General Boente said. I will defend and enforce the laws of our country to ensure that our people and our nation are protected."
One more thing!
I feel safer! Don't you?
Remember when Bill Clinton's showing Attorney General Loretta Lynch pictures of his grandchildren was an unconscionable intrusion into Department of Justice independence? Remember when we had a president who was a Constitutional scholar? Remember when we thought this story would keep until morning? LOLOLOL and GOOD NIGHT!
Not an immigrant. Probably still get deported under 'President' Trump.
Schumer is the "head clown". The Failing Piece of Garbage actually tweeted that.
She was hired under Bush the lesser, but was a civil servant, not an appointee. She was appointed by Obama to a political, non civil-service position. She was made acting AG because she was the only one left who could sign off on FISA warrants. She is a Democrat, I'm sure, but I would also assume a fairly conservative one (you don't have a bunch of Bernie Brahs in the prosecutors offices). None of this excuses the prickishness of what Trump did in firing her, but it was still within his rights, and she surely expected it to happen.