--- title: Jeff Sessions Grilled Sally Yates on Defying the President description: When she was confirmed as deputy attorney general, Sally Yates assured Sen. Jeff Sessions she would be willing to stand up to the President canonical: https://time.com/4654850/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-attorney-general/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-31T14:07:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:02:41.242Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeff Sessions Once Grilled Sally Yates About Standing Up to the President og:description: Watch the clip og:url: https://time.com/4654850/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-attorney-general/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28f9d8ee2626198b/6988b7ff8fd2ee5b0b35597f/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-confirmation.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Senate Judiciary Committee Attorney General Senator Jeff Sessions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeff Sessions Once Grilled Sally Yates About Standing Up to the President twitter:description: Watch the clip twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28f9d8ee2626198b/6988b7ff8fd2ee5b0b35597f/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-confirmation.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions Once Grilled Sally Yates About Standing Up to the President  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 31, 2017 2:07 PM UTC  President Donald Trump's pick for Attorney General, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 10, 2017. President Donald Trump's pick for Attorney General, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 10, 2017.Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 31, 2017 2:07 PM UTC When Sally Yates was confirmed as deputy U.S. attorney general nearly two years ago, she assured [Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions](http://time.com/4630988/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-confirmation-attorney-general/) that she would be willing to stand up to the President if he took “unlawful” action. Yates, who had just recently taken over as acting attorney general, was [fired Monday night](http://time.com/4654665/president-trump-sally-yates-immigration-order/) by President Donald Trump after she [refused to defend](http://time.com/4654533/acting-attorney-general-sally-yates-immigration-ban-donald-trump/) his [order on immigration](http://time.com/4654787/trump-immigration-discrimination-lawsuits/), explaining that she was not “convinced that the executive order is lawful.” Trump admonished Yates, replaced her with a new acting attorney general and is now [eagerly awaiting the confirmation](http://time.com/4654824/donald-trump-attorney-general-sessions/) of his Attorney General nominee, who happens to be Sessions. During Yates’ confirmation hearing on March 24, 2105, Sessions grilled her on whether she would be willing to say no to the President (who at the time was Barack Obama) — “no matter how headstrong they might be.” “If the views a President wants to execute are unlawful, should the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General say no?” Sessions asked. “Senator, I believe that the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General has an obligation to follow the law and the Constitution and to give their independent legal advice to the President,” Yates said. In the wake of the Justice Department shakeup Monday, that clip from the hearing has gone viral: Here’s a transcript of their exchange: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4654850/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-attorney-general/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4654850/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-attorney-general/"},"headline":"Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions Once Grilled Sally Yates About Standing Up to the President","datePublished":"2017-01-31T14:07:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:02:41.242Z","description":"\"No matter how headstrong they might be, do you feel like that’s the duty of the Attorney General’s office?\"","url":"https://time.com/4654850/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-attorney-general/","keywords":["justice","Congress","White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28f9d8ee2626198b/6988b7ff8fd2ee5b0b35597f/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-confirmation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28f9d8ee2626198b/6988b7ff8fd2ee5b0b35597f/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-confirmation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Judiciary Committee Attorney General Senator Jeff Sessions","caption":"Senate Judiciary Committee Attorney General Senator Jeff Sessions","creditText":"Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4654850/jeff-sessions-sally-yates-attorney-general/","name":"Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions Once Grilled Sally Yates About Standing Up to the President"}}]}] ```