Once again under fire from President Trump, this time in a tweet today, former United States Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has chosen to ignore the president and take the high road in her own Memorial Day tweet.
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Today we honor those who gave their lives to protect each of us and the ideals on which our country was founded. Their selfless sacrifice deserves not only our gratitude, but also our commitment to continuously strive to live up to those ideals.
— Sally Yates (@SallyQYates) May 28, 2018
Trump’s latest attack on Yates, whom he fired in January 2017, was part of his continuing effort to paint President Obama as a villain who purposely used the FBI to spy on his 2016 presidential campaign, a charge that has been shown to have no basis in fact over and over again.
During Trump’s campaign, the FBI following strict rules did interview three members of Trump’s campaign after there were confirmed reports of Russian attempts to interfere in the American election.
Trump has tried to turn that into “Spygate,” but even this week after a meeting of Trump allies and some Democrats at the Justice Department to discuss it, no evidence emerges to support Trump claim.
Still, today there was Trump twice tweeting quotes from a libertarian Georgetown law professor, who continues to support his theory that the president was spied on, during an appearance on Fox News, the outlet that constantly supports Trump’s positions.
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“We now find out that the Obama Administration put the opposing campaigns presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation. That raises legitimate questions. I just find this really odd…this goes to the heart of our electoral system.” Jonathan Turley on @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2018
His second tweet went after Yates directly.
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“Sally Yates is part of concerns people have raised about bias in the Justice Dept. I find her actions to be really quite unbelievable.” Jonathan Turley
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2018
During his appearance on the morning show Fox & Friends, Turley also was critical of Yates when she was serving as Acting Attorney General for refusing to defend Trump’s ban on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries, which she said was unconstitutional.
Trump fired her over that decision.
WATCH: Trump Quotes Law Professor Jonathan Turley to Blast Sally Yates, Russia Probe https://t.co/XbYya7SYlh pic.twitter.com/3pWwtOpxun
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 28, 2018
Turnley said he supported her firing and “at the time that she was fired for good cause. I still believe that. I find her actions to be quite unbelievable.”
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That is an odd thing for a law professor to say since Trump’s ban was later thrown out by the federal courts for being improper and unconstitutional, which Turnely ignores.
Apparently Turley, like Trump, is not interested in facts or the actual history of what happened but only in twisting the truth for political purposes.
And Trump, desperate to find anyone who supports his false claims, happily jumped on what Turley said as if that made it true, when in fact it is just more fake news.
Yates, meanwhile, a day ago on CNN did condemn the president’s efforts to force the Justice Department to investigate whether the FBI infiltrated his campaign, which has resulted in the DOJ Inspector General opening an inquiry into the FBI’s actions.
Yates said that it threatens public confidence in the agency and moves his violation of the traditional separating of the executive branch and the FBI to a “more dangerous level.”
“It’s even a step beyond a dangerous point,” Yates said on CNN, “because it’s not just directing a criminal investigation or to stop one but anyone, it directly relates to his campaign. That’s truly unprecedented.”
“I was with DOJ for 27 years, and I can tell you that the men and women of the Department of Justice take the responsibility very seriously,” she explained.“Investigations there are done based on the facts and the law and not based on politics,” added Yates. “And I’m confident that that will be the result of this investigation as well.”
