Tag: Sally Yates

Sally Yates: Trump Would Rather ‘Fawn Over A Dictator’ Than Defend The Country

The former acting attorney general said the president has spent his term using “his position to defend himself, rather than our country.”

Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates excoriated President Donald Trump for what she called a relentless attack on democracy in a blistering speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, urging voters to unite behind former Vice President Joe Biden.

Yates, who was abruptly fired by Trump in January 2017 when she refused to defend his executive order that sought to ban travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, called the move just the start of his efforts to undermine “democratic institutions and countless dedicated public servants.”

“From the moment President Trump took office, he’s used his position to defend himself rather than our country,” Yates said Tuesday. “Rather than standing up to Vladimir Putin, he fawns over a dictator who is still trying to interfere in our elections.” Continue reading.

Ex-Justice Dept. official says Michael Flynn secretly ‘neutered’ Obama’s moves on Russia

Washington Post logoFormer deputy attorney general Sally Q. Yates told Congress on Wednesday that President Trump’s incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn in late 2016 had secretly “neutered” Obama administration actions toward Russia, prompting an investigation that consumed the early days of Trump’s presidency.

Yates has been a target of Trump and many Republicans for her brief oversight of the investigation of Russia’s election interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign four years ago. She testified via video before the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), has been highly critical of the FBI’s handling of that case.

Trump attacked Yates before the hearing began, tweeting that she “has zero credibility” and declaring her “part of the greatest political crime of the Century, and ObamaBiden knew EVERYTHING!” Continue reading.

Yates spars with GOP at testy hearing

The Hill logoRepublican senators sparred on Wednesday with former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates over investigations into former Trump aides that were related to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. 

Yates testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of Chairman Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) probe into the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation and former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Graham is one of two Senate Republicans running probes into the Obama administration’s investigations of Russia. 

The hearing, however, also had overtones of the 2020 election. Graham is a key Senate ally of President Trump, and the investigations are ramping up with less than 100 days to go before the 2020 election. Trump is badly trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in national and key swing-state polls. Continue reading.

Senate GOP set to ramp up Obama-era probes

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are preparing to ramp up their Obama-era probes, pushing the controversial investigations back into the spotlight as the 2020 elections heat up.

The efforts have sparked high-profile tensions with Senate Democrats and public rebukes from former Vice President Joe Biden’s orbit. They view the efforts as an attempt to meddle in the 2020 elections, where Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee.

But with the Senate coming back to Washington on Monday, and the number of legislative days quickly dwindling, Republicans are preparing to step up their efforts. Continue reading.

It’s ‘never about him’: Fired acting AG Sally Yates praises Robert Mueller as ‘the inverse’ of Trump

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates praised Special Counsel Robert Mueller in high terms: as the opposite of the man he set out to investigate.

A redacted version of the full Mueller report is expected to come out this week. Ahead of the report’s release, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates praised Special Counsel Robert Mueller in high terms: as the opposite of the man he set out to investigate, Politico reports.

In TIME’S most influential people list, Yates calls Robert Mueller “the inverse of the man he would ultimately come to investigate.”

“Born to privilege, Robert S. Mueller III has lived his life governed not by a sense of entitlement but of duty,” Yates wrote. “Distinctly apolitical, he confounds those who can’t comprehend a person driven by his all too uncommon values: honor, integrity, humility, service.”

View the complete April 17 article by Tana Ganeva of Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

5 things we learned from Sally Yates’s testimony on what the White House knew about Michael Flynn

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website May 8, 2017:

On Monday, we learned much more about the moment that brought down Michael Flynn, the national security adviser whom President Trump fired less than a month into the job for misleading Vice President Pence about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the United States.

But we were also left with questions about why the White House waited 18 days after finding out Flynn misled them to fire him. Continue reading “5 things we learned from Sally Yates’s testimony on what the White House knew about Michael Flynn”

Trump administration sought to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia

The following article by Devlin Barrett and Adam Entous was posted on the Washington Post website March 28, 2017:

Then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is pictured at the Justice Department on May 15, 2015. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post)

The Trump administration sought to block former acting attorney general Sally Yates from testifying to Congress in the House investigation of links between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, The Washington Post has learned, a position that is likely to further anger Democrats who have accused Republicans of trying to damage the inquiry.

According to letters The Post reviewed, the Justice Department notified Yates earlier this month that the administration considers a great deal of her possible testimony to be barred from discussion in a congressional hearing because the topics are covered by the presidential communication privilege. Continue reading “Trump administration sought to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia”