During an interview on the FOX Business Network’s Varney & Co., former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft defended President Trump’s decision to fire Acting Attorney General Sally Yates Monday night.
“If a private lawyer abandons his client and doesn’t resign, the private lawyer is subject to discipline by the bar. And, here is a public lawyer whose client is the United States of America, who has the best judgment of the Justice Department, the office of legal counsel, saying this is perfectly good stuff – it’s legal, it’s constitutional,” said Ashcroft. “And she decides she’s going to abandon the side of the United States in the courts, and not to resign. I think the President of the United States did the right thing in quote, resigning for her.”
Yates refused to advise the Justice Department to enforce Trump’s executive order, which temporarily bans travelers from seven Muslim majority countries for 90 days and halts the admission of refugees for 120 days until the Trump administration can rework the vetting process.
Trump’s stance on immigration has sparked controversy and protests nationwide, even forcing former President Obama to weigh in, who claimed “American values are at stake.”
Ashcroft argues, however, there that there is nothing unconstitutional about Trump’s decision, and in fact, “it conforms with the legislation that has been acted on by a variety of presidents.”
He went on to add that Trump’s decision to fire Yates, instead of waiting for Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to assume the role of Attorney General in a few short days, “indicates that President Trump is not going to be diverted by dereliction of duty.”
Ashcroft continued, “The President is on the soundest footing possible in this setting, and he deserves the support of his Justice Department.”
