Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates warned on Wednesday that the rule of law in the U.S. could dissipate after President Trump called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to put an immediate end to the federal Russia investigation.
“Today our president called on his (recused) AG to shut down the investigation of his own campaign,” Yates wrote on Twitter. “As shocking as that is, what’s even more dangerous is that we’ve gotten used to it. The rule of law won’t evaporate overnight, but it can slip away—if we let it.”
Today our president called on his (recused) AG to shut down the investigation of his own campaign. As shocking as that is, what’s even more dangerous is that we’ve gotten used to it. The rule of law won’t evaporate overnight, but it can slip away—if we let it.
— Sally Yates (@SallyQYates) August 1, 2018
Trump on Wednesday morning said special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe needed to come to a speedy conclusion “before it continues to stain our country any further,” prompting pundits to speculate whether he was attempting to obstruct justice.
“This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further,” he tweeted. “Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”
Trump’s insistence that Mueller’s so-called “rigged witch hunt” be shut down comes as former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort faces a trial in Virginia regarding bank and tax fraud charges stemming from Mueller’s investigation.
Yates, who was appointed U.S. attorney and later deputy attorney general by former President Barack Obama, has become a vocal critic of Trump since she was abruptly fired by the president in January 2017 for instructing lawyers not to defend his travel ban.
