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The White House on Monday fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, after she instructed Justice Department attorneys not to defend in court an executive order signed by President Donald Trump suspending immigration from seven majority Muslim countries.
Yates learned of her firing Monday evening, in a hand-delivered letter from the White House’s Office of Personnel, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In a statement, the White House said Yates “betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States.’’
Yates was replaced by Dana Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, until Trump’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions, is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, which could happen next week.
The decision by Sally Yates, who became the acting head of the Justice Department when Loretta Lynch stepped down as attorney general this month, was in response to the series of lawsuits that were filed in the first 24 hours in which immigration officials began enforcing Trump’s order.
- Market Watch
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