Jan 31, 2017 · The firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates is one of doubtless many crisis points that will show us just how robust American democracy really is Tue 31 Jan 2017 09.39 EST Last modified on ...
Mar 10, 2017 · The attorney general asked for their resignations Friday, igniting anger from officials who were given no warning ... January 31, 2017 in Washington, DC. ... But one of them is the high-profile US ...
Jan 31, 2017 · US attorney general Sally Yates fired in Muslim ban row. ... Published On 31 Jan 2017 31 Jan 2017 ... Trump’s pick for US attorney general, was confirmed by the Senate. ...
Jeff Sessions, U.S. Attorney General, requested the resignations of 46 U.S. Attorneys on March 10, 2017. On March 10, 2017, Jeff Sessions, who was appointed United States Attorney General by President Donald Trump, requested the resignations of 46 United States Attorneys. Some resignations were declined by Sessions or Trump.
Trump has argued tougher vetting of immigrants is needed to protect the US from attacks, but critics complain that his order unfairly singles out Muslims and tramples on the nation’s historic reputation as a welcoming place for immigrants.
Another draft order under consideration would make changes to several of the government’s foreign worker visa programs.
President Donald Trump declined to accept the resignations of Dana Boente (left) and Rod Rosenstein (right).
Initial media reports described Sessions' move as abrupt and unexpected, but not unprecedented. Slate 's Leon Neyfakh accused media outlets of sensationalizing Sessions' actions, which he said were "nothing particularly unusual or surprising", and noted the mass firings of U.S. attorneys accompanying each presidential transition.
Kevin Ryan (R) Though described as "loyal to the Bush administration," he was allegedly fired for the possible controversy that negative job performance evaluations might cause if they were released. John McKay (R) Was given a positive job evaluation 7 months before he was fired.
Officials who resigned. Alberto Gonzales, United States Attorney General, former White House Counsel. Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General. Michael A. Battle, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General.
^ "Although Bush and President Bill Clinton each dismissed nearly all U.S. attorneys upon taking office, legal experts and former prosecutors say the firing of a large number of prosecutors in the middle of a term appears to be unprecedented and threatens the independence of prosecutors ." Gonzales: 'Mistakes Were Made' The Washington Post, March 14, 2007
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel stated that some of the emails that had involved official correspondence relating to the firing of attorneys may have been lost because they were conducted on Republican party accounts and not stored properly. "Some official e-mails have potentially been lost and that is a mistake the White House is aggressively working to correct." said Stanzel, a White House spokesman. Stonzel said that they could not rule out the possibility that some of the lost emails dealt with the firing of U.S. attorneys. For example, J. Scott Jennings, an aide to Karl Rove communicated with Justice Department officials "concerning the appointment of Tim Griffin, a former Rove aide, as U.S. attorney in Little Rock, according to e-mails released in March, 2007. For that exchange, Jennings, although working at the White House, used an e-mail account registered to the Republican National Committee, where Griffin had worked as a political opposition researcher."
The President of the United States has the authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys, with the consent of the United States Senate, and the President may remove U.S. Attorneys from office. In the event of a vacancy, the United States Attorney General is authorized to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney. Before March 9, 2006, such interim appointments expired after 120 days, if a Presidential appointment had not been approved by the Senate. Vacancies that persisted beyond 120 days were filled through interim appointments made by the Federal District Court for the district of the vacant office.
Attorney General Gonzales, in a confidential memorandum dated March 1, 2006, delegated authority to senior DOJ staff Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson to hire and dismiss political appointees and some civil service positions.
Members of Congress investigating the dismissals found that sworn testimony from Department of Justice officials appeared to be contradicted by internal Department memoranda and e-mail, and that possibly Congress was deliberately misled. The White House role in the dismissals remained unclear despite hours of testimony by Attorney General Gonzales and senior Department of Justice staff in congressional committee hearings.