• Politics
  • White House

President Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates After She Defied Immigration Order

6 minute read
Updated: | Originally published: ;

(WASHINGTON) — 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 Boente was sworn in privately late Monday, the White House said, and rescinded Yates’s directive.

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.

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.

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.

Trump said the order had been “approved” by Justice Department lawyers. However, the department has said the Office of Legal Counsel review was limited to whether the order was properly drafted, but did not address broader policy questions.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer challenged those opposed to the measure to resign.

“They should either get with the program or they can go,” Spicer said.

The blowback underscored Trump’s tenuous relationship with his own national security advisers, many of whom he met for the first time during the transition.

Mattis, who stood next to Trump during Friday’s signing ceremony, is said to be particularly incensed. A senior U.S. official said Mattis, along with Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford, was aware of the general concept of Trump’s order but not the details. Tillerson has told the president’s political advisers that he was baffled over not being consulted on the substance of the order.

U.S. officials and others with knowledge of the Cabinet’s thinking insisted on anonymity in order to disclose the officials’ private views.

Despite his public defense of the policy, the president has privately acknowledged flaws in the rollout, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking. But he’s also blamed the media — his frequent target — for what he believes are reports exaggerating the dissent and the number of people actually affected.

After a chaotic weekend during which some U.S. legal permanent residents were detained at airports, some agencies were moving swiftly to try to clean up after the White House.

Homeland Security, the agency tasked with implementing much of the refugee ban, clarified that customs and border agents should allow legal residents to enter the country. The Pentagon was trying to exempt Iraqis who worked alongside the U.S. and coalition forces from the 90-day ban on entry from the predominantly Muslim countries.

“There are a number of people in Iraq who have worked for us in a partnership role, whether fighting alongside us or working as translators, often doing so at great peril to themselves,” said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers in Trump’s party sought to distance themselves from the wide-ranging order.

While Spicer said “appropriate committees and leadership offices” on Capitol Hill were consulted, GOP lawmakers said their offices had no hand in drafting the order and no briefings from the White House on how it would work.

“I think they know that it could have been done in a better way,” Corker said of the White House.

President Trump’s First Week in Pictures

At the inauguration of Donald Trump who was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States in Washington DC, on Jan. 20, 2017.
At the inauguration of Donald Trump who was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017.Christopher Morris—VII for TIME
President Donald Trump walks with his wife Melania and son Barron to the White House during the parade in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2017.
President Donald Trump walks with his wife Melania and son Barron to the White House during the parade in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump's armored limousine is escorted for the inaugural parade in Washington DC, on Jan. 20, 2017.
President Donald Trump's armored limousine is escorted for the inaugural parade in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017.Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Protesters demonstrate on the streets of DC on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017.
Protesters demonstrate on the streets of Washington on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017.Natalie Keyssar for TIME
Police pepper spray at anti-Trump protesters during protests in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2017. 
Police pepper spray at anti-Trump protesters in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017. Jewel Samad—AFP/Getty Images
Donald Trump Is Sworn In As 45th President Of The United States
President Donald Trump is joined by the Congressional leadership and his family as he formally signs his cabinet nominations into law, in the President's Room of the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017. J. Scott Applewhite—Getty Images
2017. Washington DC. USA.  Donald Trump arrives at the Presidential Inaugural Salute to our Armed Services Ball at the National Building Museum after the inauguration of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States of America.
U.S. President Donald Trump applauds members of the armed services during the Armed Services Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.Peter van Agtmael—Magnum for TIME
US-POLITICS-TRUMP
President Donald Trump speaks at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., on Jan. 21, 2017.Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images
Kellyanne Conway
President Donald Trump's adviser Kellyanne Conway gets ready to speak on television outside the White House, on Jan. 22, 2017.Andrew Harnik—AP
President Trump Hosts The Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers And First Responders Reception At The White House
President Donald Trump speaks during an Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2017. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Donald Trump
President Donald Trump holds up a letter left for him by former President Barack Obama as he speaks at a White House senior staff swearing in ceremony in the East Room of the White House, on Jan. 22, 2017. Andrew Harnik—AP
President Trump Holds Listening Session With Business Leaders
President Donald Trump walks into the Roosevelt Room for a meeting with business leaders at the White House, on Jan. 23, 2017.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images
US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
President Donald Trump looks on during a reception with Congressional leaders at the White House, on Jan. 23, 2017.Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images
Spicer holds his daily briefing at the White House in Washington
White House spokesman Sean Spicer holds his daily briefing at the White House, on Jan. 24, 2017. Jonathan Ernst—Reuters
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, on Jan. 24, 2017. Doug Mills—The New York Times/Redux
Greenpeace protestors climb construction crane in Washington
A sign saying "resist" hung from a construction crane by protestors, with the group Greenpeace, can be seen near the White House, on Jan. 25, 2017. Samuel Corum—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
President Trump Visits Department of Homeland Security
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence return to the White House after visiting the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, on Jan. 25, 2017. Chip Somodevilla—EPA
Donald Trump
President Donald Trump is saluted as he walks up the stairs of Air Force One before departure from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Jan. 26, 2017. Jose Luis Magana—AP

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com