Breaking: Acting U.S. Attorney General Says Won't Defend Trump's Immigration Order

Acting U.S. attorney general says won't defend Trump's immigration order -CNN

by Reuters


Monday, 30 January 2017 23:39 GMT



WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates has told Justice Department lawyers not to defend President Donald Trump's order temporarily banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, CNN reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.


Yates was named deputy attorney general by then-President Barack Obama in 2015 and asked to stay on as acting head of the Justice Department by Trump.


(Reporting by Eric Beech)


https://www.yahoo.com/news/acting-u-attorney-general-says-wont-defend-trumps-234108548.html


http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/politics/donald-trump-immigration-order-department-of-justice/index.html

DemoQuacks are just showing how truly disgusting they really are.

She as been fired. Not sure of replacement.

Professor Alan Dershowitz says the democrats may try to further delay Senator Sessions as Attorney General. He says that the words of Sally Yates can be used against the President's side in court.

Obama Appointee, Interim DOJ Head Refuses To Defend President Trump Executive Order…


Posted on January 30, 2017 by sundance


And now we see why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was so willing to drag his UniParty feet and not get AG Jeff Sessions confirmed…


WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a Democratic appointee, says she’s directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend President Donald Trump’s executive order on refugees.


Yates said in a memo Monday that she is not convinced that Trump’s order is lawful, or that its defense is consistent with the department’s obligation to “always seek justice and stand for what is right.”


Yates was appointed deputy attorney general by President Barack Obama. She became acting attorney general once Loretta Lynch left the position.



Her directive will be in place until she leaves the department, which will happen once the Senate confirms Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general. (read more)


https://theconservativetreehouse.com...ecutive-order/

I thought I heard Senator Dick Durbin say Senator McConnell was holding up some of the confirmations.

Mike Allen 5 mins ago

President Trump, at 9:16 p.m. Monday, announced the firing of the acting attorney general who had defied him on his migrant-travel ban, saying she "has betrayed the Department of Justice."

Here is the text, emailed to reporters:

Statement on the Appointment of Dana Boente as Acting Attorney General

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.

It is time to get serious about protecting our country. Calling for tougher vetting for individuals travelling from seven dangerous places is not extreme. It is reasonable and necessary to protect our country.

Tonight, President Trump relieved Ms. Yates of her duties and subsequently named Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to 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.

"I am honored to serve President Trump in this role until Senator Sessions is confirmed. I will defend and enforce the laws of our country to ensure that our people and our nation are protected," said Dana Boente, Acting Attorney General.

https://www.axios.com/trump-fires-ac...226964333.html

Related:

http://www.alipac.us/f9/trump-fires-...el-ban-342910/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GeorgiaPeach

She as been fired. Not sure of replacement.

Professor Alan Dershowitz says the democrats may try to further delay Senator Sessions as Attorney General. He says that the words of Sally Yates can be used against the President's side in court.

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I'm not sure they can. I could be wrong, but I thought the one week delay Session is currently under was the only delay 'bullet' the Democrats had.

Thank you MW. I hope so.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GeorgiaPeach

She as been fired. Not sure of replacement. . .

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Yates fired; Boente sworn in as acting AG

Dana Boente, US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, the White House said, and was sworn in at 9 p.m. ET, per an administration official.

Boente said he presumes he will serve until Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is confirmed.
==============================

Who is new acting attorney general Dana Boente?
https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/im...Eea4L2h9bmo-fA
Dana Boente, then-First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia leave federal court in Alexandria, Va. . (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) (Evan Vucci/AP)

By Rachel Weiner January 30 at 11:41 PM

In making Dana Boente acting attorney general, President Trump has elevated a longtime federal prosecutor best known for his handling of public corruption cases.

Boente, a 31-year veteran of the Justice Department, most recently oversaw the prosecution of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell — a case ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court. Previously, Boente oversaw the government’s cases against U.S. Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) and former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D).

Lawyers who have known Boente, who was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said he has a reputation for being tough but even handed. While he has not been vocal about his political views, they said, he would not have agreed to be thrust into the role of defending President Trump’s controversial executive order banning some migrants unless he believed it was legally sound.

[Trump fires acting attorney general Sally Yates ]“

Dana was very circumspect about his politics,” said former assistant U.S. attorney Gene Rossi, now a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. “I never saw Dana in the 22 years I worked with him make what I considered to a political decision. . .He will try his best to enforce what he thinks is the law.”

But Rossi added, “If he thought that the executive order was illegal, I doubt very seriously he would have taken the position of acting attorney general.”

Longtime defense attorney Jeffrey Zwerling echoed that sentiment.

“I don’t think he would do it if he felt that it was morally wrong to do it,” Zwerling said. “I believe he looked inside himself and decided he could morally and legally defend the position. I don’t know how he votes, but he’s no liberal. The Eastern District of Virginia is a very tough jurisdiction and he ran it as a very tough jurisdiction.”

The Trump administration said Boente, who replaced fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, was sworn in about 9 p.m. Monday.

In an interview, Boente noted his office already had been supporting the president’s order in a challenge brought in Virginia federal court.“I was enforcing it this afternoon,” Boente said. “Our career department employees were defending the action in court, and I expect that’s what they’ll do tomorrow, appropriately and properly.”

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center, who filed a complaint on behalf of two Yemenese men sent away from Dulles under the executive order, said he had spoken with Boente about the case by phone Sunday and Monday.

The U.S. Attorney’s job in the Eastern District of Virginia is an important and high-profile one. The Eastern District is home to the CIA and the Pentagon, and its prosecutors often handle terrorism cases. The office has about 300 lawyers and other employees working in Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News.

Boente was sworn in to head the office in February of 2016 but had served in that post on an interim basis since replacing Neil MacBride in late 2013.

When he was sworn in, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch called Boente one of the department’s “consummate utility players” and said he was “one you could always count on to be there for you.”

Under Boente’s leadership, prosecutors won corruption convictions against McDonnell (R) and his wife, Maureen, only to see those decisions overturned by the Supreme Court. Boente’s office pushed to retry the couple; they were overruled by higher-ups at the Justice Department.

Prosecutors working for Boente also convicted CIA leaker Jeffrey Sterling under the Espionage Act and television news analyst Wayne Simmons for pretending to be a CIA agent.

Boente has overseen ten prosecutions of Americans accused of supporting the Islamic State, eight of which have resulted in convictions. The remaining two are set for trial this year.

In the past several years, Boente’s office has also aggressively targeted opioid dealers implicated in fatal overdoses, taking on what Boente has described as a worsening epidemic in Virginia.

"I'm very concerned that we haven't seen the worst of this," Boente said at a forum late last year in Loudoun County. "If you don't know someone who's had a problem with addiction, you will."

Boente was nominated to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia by former President Barack Obama on Oct. 8, 2015, and confirmed by the senate two months later.

Before he became a U.S. attorney, Boente worked in the tax division and as an interim attorney in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Boente, who is from Carlinville, Illinois, lives in Northern Virginia with his wife. The couple have grown children and grandchildren.

Boente said he presumes he will serve until Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is confirmed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.844b874c788e