President Trump on Monday used the Justice Department’s refusal to defend his controversial immigration order to blast Democrats for slow-walking his attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions.
“The Democrats are delaying my cabinet picks for purely political reasons. They have nothing going but to obstruct. Now have an Obama A.G.,” he tweeted.
From The Hill
The comment came after Acting Attorney General Sally Yates defied Trump by ordering the Justice Department not to defend Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees in court.
Yates, a veteran of the Justice Department, was appointed by former President Obama.
The standoff ups the stakes on a confirmation vote for Sessions, who is expected to uphold Trump’s order.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Sessions’ nomination Tuesday. If he clears committee, the Senate could confirm him and allow him to take over the Justice Department by week’s end.
Democrats in the Senate are under pressure from liberal groups to delay Sessions’ nomination further in response to the order from Trump, which halts the intake of refugees for four months and bars people from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. for at least 90 days.
