The Internet Is Loving Sally Yates Handing Republican Senators Their Asses

Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired by the Trump administration after refusing to defend Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, is testifying in front of members of Congress today on Russian interference in the election, particularly with regard to Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn. Of course, things devolved from there into Republicans trying to discredit her, and she was not having any of their garbage.

Not only is Yates and accomplished lawyer, so arguing with her is not for the dim-witted, but she showed up for some Russia hearings and was instead treated to a retread of her actions with regard to the Muslim Ban, which was not going to fly. Above, you can see Senator Ted Cruz trying to point out a statute that seemingly gives Trump the power to implement the ban, but Yates points out that not only is that power mitigated by another statute, but none of it matters if those powers turn out to be unconstitutional.

Of course, Yates’ decision to instruct Department of Justice lawyers not to defend the ban was always going to be a point of contention, and it was based on the simple principal that if she honestly believed the ban was unconstitutional, she’d be shirking her duty to defend it. Senator John Cornyn tried to attack her along these lines, and he met a similar fate to Ted Cruz:

In case it wasn’t clear when she put her job on the line to stand up for the constitution, Sally Yates does not mess around, and despite how little most of her hearing has had to do with Russia, everyone’s really enjoying it anyway.

When I say everyone is loving it, I’m leaving out Cornyn and Cruz, who seemingly fled the room afterward without sticking around to hear Yates talk more about, y’know, the things she was actually there to talk about. Don’t let the door hit you, boys.

As far as the actual content of the hearing, Yates was pretty clear that she had warned Donald Trump’s administration that Mike Flynn should be considered compromised by Russia. Meanwhile, on the shouldn’t-have-been-at-all-related side, Trump’s team is still trying and failing to remove the evidence that Trump has made his intentions as far as banning Muslims from the United States very clear, with those intentions suddenly disappearing from the Internet just today:

And, seriously, Trump himself talked about deliberately favoring Christian refugees. Proving his intent here does not require expert skills. John Oliver and Last Week Tonight really nailed this entire political fiasco properly with the term “Stupid Watergate,” huh?

(image: screengrab)

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Dan Van Winkle

Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.

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