![]() ![]() The idea that that balance is being thrown out of kilter by not just disagreeing with what a court might do, but attempting to de-legitimize it … it concerns me that that can be really destructive and be further divisive. We have got a delicate balance there between the three branches of government, and that balance has served us pretty darn well for many, many years now. ![]() “It’s not just that the president is making comments undermining the legitimacy of judges who issue opinions he doesn’t like,” she said: No matter whether Trump has committed a crime, his administration has undermined long-standing practices of neutrality, respect, and integrity among the various agencies and branches of government, she said. It shouldn’t just be whether they committed a felony or not.” “That’s not the standard of conduct that we’re looking for from our president or our administration. ![]() The real problem is different, Yates said: “There are facts here that should be alarming to us as a country that fall short of facts that would establish a basis for impeachment or for prosecution.” While Mueller is investigating whether any federal crimes were committed, which could potentially be grounds for prosecution or impeachment, “surely that’s not our bar,” she said. It’s going to withstand anything” in the coming months. “There are also good Trump appointees at the Department of Justice now as well. “You have got thousands and thousands of career-DOJ people that are there that care deeply about the mission and the integrity of the Department of Justice,” she said. She said she believes in Mueller and expressed “total confidence in the career men and women who are at the Department of Justice.” Yates doesn’t seem to think these fears are justified. When Mueller was appointed, those fears and questions emerged again about whether he would be allowed to conduct a thorough, neutral investigation into the Russia affair. ![]() Although Yates was a political appointee, she was also a 27-year department veteran who claimed she had made her decision based on her legal judgment. The incident led many to argue that the neutrality of the Justice Department was under attack. “I did not believe that to be a defense that was grounded in truth.” Shortly thereafter, she was fired from her post. After a hectic weekend of chaos and protests at multiple American airports, Yates determined that she wasn’t comfortable defending the constitutionality of the ban: It “would require me to send lawyers into court to say this ban had nothing to do with religion,” she said. She had to “furiously” search for details on the internet from a car on the way to the airport, she said during an interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic. In the week after the president’s inauguration, Yates found out via The New York Times that the White House had instituted a travel ban on citizens and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries. Yates has many reasons to be suspicious of the Trump administration. ![]()
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