Dana Boente, who Trump appointed to
succeed Yates as acting attorney general, rescinded Yates' guidance and
instructed the Justice Department to "defend the lawful orders of our
president."
Democrats reacted with
outrage to the night's dramatic events, warning that it called into
question the independence of the Justice Department in the Trump
administration.
"Trump has commenced a course of conduct
that is Nixonian in its design and execution and threatens the
long-vaunted independence of DOJ," Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers
tweeted. "If dedicated gov officials deem his directives to be unlawful
& unconstitutional, he will simply fire them as if gov is a reality
show."
But Trump's former GOP rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, jumped to the President's defense.
"After
eight long years of a lawless Obama Department of Justice, it is
fitting--and sad--that the very last act of the Obama DOJ is for the
Acting AG to defy the newly elected President, refuse to enforce the
law, and force the President to fire her," Cruz said in a statement.
Yates
was fired as the administration was still recovering from the fury
surrounding Trump's hardline immigration measures, including stinging
criticism from some congressional Republicans who said the
administration's process was far from smooth.
"They
know it could've been done in a better way and my guess is they're
going to try to clean it up," Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, told reporters. "They
probably learned that communication and the inter-agency process would
probably be helpful."