Caribbean Times 87th Issue - Tuesday 31st January 2017

Tuesday 31st January 2017 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g 9
Trump fires Justice Dept. head
over executive order defiance
WASHINGTON – President
Donald Trump on Monday
fired Sally Yates, the
acting attorney general and
a Democratic appointee, after
she refused to defend in
court his controversial refugee
and immigration ban.
The extraordinary public
clash over Trump’s most
consequential policy decision
to date laid bare the discord
and dissent surrounding
the executive order, which
temporarily halted the entire
U.S. refugee program and
banned all entries from seven
Muslim-majority nations
for 90 days.
The firing came hours
after Yates directed Justice
Department attorneys
not to defend the executive
order, saying she was not
convinced it was lawful or
consistent with the agency’s
“obligation to always seek
justice and stand for what is
right.”
In a statement, Trump
said Yates had “betrayed
the Department of Justice
by refusing to enforce a legal
order designed to protect
the citizens of the United
States.” He named longtime
federal prosecutor Dana
Boente as Yates’ replacement.
Yates’ abrupt decision reflected
the dissent over the
order, with administration
officials moving to distance
themselves from the policy.
As protests erupted at airports
over the weekend and
confusion disrupted travel
around the globe, some of
Trump’s top advisers and
fellow Republicans privately
noted they were not consulted
about the policy.
At least three top national
security officials - Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland
Security Secretary John
Kelly and Rex Tillerson,
who is awaiting confirmation
to lead the State Department
- have told associates they
were not aware of details of
the directive until around the
time Trump signed it. Leading
intelligence officials
were also left largely in the
dark, according to U.S. officials.
Tennessee Sen. Bob
Corker, the top Republican
on the Senate Foreign Relations
committee, said that
despite White House assurances
that congressional
leaders were consulted, he
learned about the order in
the media.
Other parts of Trump’s
administration were voicing
dissent Monday. A large
group of American diplomats
circulated a memo
voicing their opposition to
the order, which temporarily
halted the entire U.S. refugee
program and banned
all entries from seven Muslim-majority
nations for 90
days.
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates
In a startlingly combative
response, White House
spokesman Sean Spicer
challenged those opposed to
the measure to resign.
“They should either get
with the program or they can
go,” Spicer said.
The blowback underscored
Trump’s tenuous
relationship with his own
national security advisers,
many of whom he met for
the first time during the transition,
as well as with the
government bureaucracy he
now leads.
While Trump outlined his
plan for temporarily halting
entry to the U.S. from countries
with terror ties during
the campaign, the confusing
way in which it finally was
crafted stunned some who
have joined his team.
Mattis, who stood next to
Trump during Friday’s signing
ceremony, is said to be
particularly incensed. A senior
U.S. official said Mattis,
along with Joint Chiefs
Chairman Joseph Dunford,
was aware of the general
concept of Trump’s order
but not the details.
Tillerson has told the
president’s political advisers
that he was baffled over not
being consulted on the substance
of the order.
U.S. officials and others
with knowledge of the Cabinet’s
thinking insisted on anonymity
in order to disclose
the officials’ private views.
Trump’s order pauses
America’s entire refugee
program for four months
and indefinitely bans all
those from war-ravaged Syria.
Federal judges in New
York and several other states
issued orders that temporarily
block the government
from deporting people with
valid visas who arrived after
Trump’s travel ban took
cont’d on pg 10