Lawyers in the Justice Department thought that acting Attorney General Sally Yates should have resigned if she was not prepared to enforce President Trump's controversial executive order on restricting immigration rather than direct them not to defend it.
"They think if Sally Yates did not want to defend the executive order, she should have just resigned and not issue that order to Justice Department lawyers not to defend the travel ban," CNN's Evan Perez reported Tuesday. "And certainly not to call it–that she called it unlawful, if you recall from her message to lawyers in the department.
Trump fired Yates on Monday night after she refused to enforce one of his new executive orders, which temporarily bars Syrian refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Yates told lawyers at the Justice Department not to defend the order, leading the White House to remove her from her post hours later.
