Former acting attorney general Sally Yates is claiming that President Trump’s recent attacks on attorney general Jeff Sessions may actually be an attempt at “destroying the fundamental independence of the Justice Department.”
Former acting attorney general Sally Yates is claiming that President Trump’s recent attacks on attorney general Jeff Sessions threaten “the fundamental independence of the Justice Department.”
She makes the argument in a New York Times op-ed released Friday where she mentions Trump’s conflict with Sessions but states, “there is something more insidious happening.”
Yates then declares, “The president is attempting to dismantle the rule of law, destroy the time-honored independence of the Justice Department, and undermine the career men and women who are devoted to seeking justice day in and day out, regardless of which political party is in power.”
She adds, “If we are not careful, when we wake up from the Trump presidency, our justice system may be broken beyond recognition.”
The 27-plus-year veteran of the department later writes, “At its core, the president’s complaint is that he doesn’t have a political ally at the Justice Department to protect him from the Russia investigation.”
However, she argues that the Justice Department must maintain its independence regardless of politics and especially when the White House itself is under investigation.
Over the past week or so, Trump has continued to make public comments against Sessions with regards to his oversight of the Russia probe; the onslaught began in a New York Times piece where the president said, “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.”
Days later, Trump tweeted, "So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?" and "Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!"
