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Sacked attorney general Sally Yates hailed a 'true American hero' for defying Donald Trump

Sacked attorney general Sally Yates hailed a 'true American hero' for defying Donald Trump
Sacked attorney general Sally Yates hailed a 'true American hero' for defying Donald Trump Sacked attorney general Sally Yates hailed a 'true American hero' for defying Donald Trump

Sally Yates may have lost her job, but she won a lot of support for defying President Donald Trump over his controversial immigration ban.

Acting attorney general Yates was fired for refusing to enforce the ban, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying she had “betrayed the Department of Justice”.

Yates – an Obama appointee – had said she didn’t think the ban was aligned with the Justice Department’s “solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what’s right” and doubted its legality.

As news of her sacking broke, a flood of tributes and messages of support filled social media for the “true American hero”.

She was replaced by Dana Boente, currently US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, until Jeff Sessions is confirmed by the senate and gets the post full-time.

The clash between the new president and the nation’s most senior law enforcement officer had laid bare the growing dissent over Trump’s refugee and immigration ban, which temporarily halted the entire US refugee programme and banned all entries from seven Muslim-majority nations for 90 days.

Yates had said: “I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right.

“At present, I am not convinced that the defence of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful.”