--- title: Sally Yates: White House Sought to Block Testimony description: President Trump's administration tried to block former attorney general Sally Yates from testifying before Congress canonical: https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-28T15:52:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:29.447Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Sought to Stop Sally Yates From Testifying to Congress og:description: Claiming executive privilege. og:url: https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1344fdc9fcd4ab/6988c0248fd2ee575035652c/sally-yates.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Going Dark with FBI Director og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Sought to Stop Sally Yates From Testifying to Congress twitter:description: Claiming executive privilege. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1344fdc9fcd4ab/6988c0248fd2ee575035652c/sally-yates.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The White House Sought to Stop Sally Yates From Testifying Before Congress on Russia > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates After She Defied Immigration Order [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates After She Defied Immigration Order](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U0a0DqaP.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2017-01-31. 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_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 28, 2017 3:52 PM UTC  Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Going Dark and data encryption in Washington, USA on JULY 8, 2015. Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Going Dark and data encryption in Washington, USA on JULY 8, 2015. Anadolu Agency—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 28, 2017 3:52 PM UTC The White House sought to block former deputy attorney general Sally Yates from testifying before Congress in the [House investigation](http://time.com/4714659/devin-nunes-adam-schiff-house-intelligence-commitee-russia-donald-trump/) of ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials. The Justice Department informed Yates last week that the Trump Administration wanted to bar her possible testimony because it considers the topic “likely covered by the presidential communications privilege and possibly the deliberative process privilege,” according to [letters obtained by the Washington _Post_](http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-letters-detailing-how-sally-yates-was-blocked-from-testifying-on-russia/2390/). Yates was set to testify along with other former intelligence officials before the House Intelligence Committee in a hearing scheduled for Tuesday that was abruptly canceled by chairman [Rep. Devin Nunes](http://time.com/4714523/devin-nunes-white-house-donald-trump-russia-chuck-schumer/). Yates, an Obama appointee who served as acting attorney general during the start of Trump’s presidency, was [fired by the President](http://time.com/4654665/president-trump-sally-yates-immigration-order/) in January after ordering Justice Department lawyers not to defend his initial immigration ban. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat of the committee, said that the panel was aware that Yates sought permission to testify from the White House. “Whether the White House’s desire to avoid a public claim of executive privilege to keep her from providing the full truth on what happened contributed to the decision to cancel todays’ hearing, we do not know” Schiff said in a statement. > [](https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/846734624923443201) Schiff said Yates would have testified about the events leading up to the firing of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was ousted following reports that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about his contacts with Russia. A White House [statement](https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/846741632011702272) called the _Post_‘s report “false.” “The White House has taken no action to prevent Sally Yates from testifying and the Department of Justice specifically told her that it would not stop her and to suggest otherwise is completely irresponsible,” the White House [said](https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/846741632011702272). ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] If the views the president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or the deputy attorney general say no? 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 advise to the president. [ MUSIC ] I think that they should either get with the program, or they can go. Hold on, hold on, hold on. This is about the safety of America and there's a reason that the majority of Americans agree with the President. Is cuz they understand that that's his number one priority. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/"},"headline":"The White House Sought to Stop Sally Yates From Testifying Before Congress on Russia","datePublished":"2017-03-28T15:52:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:29.447Z","description":"Claiming executive privilege","url":"https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/","keywords":["Congress","russia","White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1344fdc9fcd4ab/6988c0248fd2ee575035652c/sally-yates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1344fdc9fcd4ab/6988c0248fd2ee575035652c/sally-yates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Going Dark with FBI Director","caption":"Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Going Dark with FBI Director","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—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/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/","name":"The White House Sought to Stop Sally Yates From Testifying Before Congress on Russia"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates After She Defied Immigration Order","description":"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","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/U0a0DqaP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-31T17:16:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U0a0DqaP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/","duration":"PT1M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4715101/trump-sally-yates-block-testify-congress-russia/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```