Email from prosecutor on Mueller's team praised acting AG Yates for refusing to defend travel ban
Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.
The conservative group Judicial Watch has released a January email written by a now-senior adviser to special prosecutor Robert Mueller that praised the acting attorney general after she refused to defend President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton says the email, uncovered in a federal lawsuit, is “an astonishing and disturbing find” that shows evidence of anti-Trump bias, report Fox News and the Washington Post. The Judicial Watch press release is here.
The prosecutor, Andrew Weissmann, was a member of the Justice Department’s criminal division when he sent the email to Sally Yates, who was fired as acting attorney general after she refused to defend the travel ban.
The subject line of the Jan. 30 email, sent from Weissmann’s government account, was “I am so proud.” It read “And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects, Andrew Weissmann.
Emily Pierce, a former Justice Department spokeswoman, disputed the idea that the email indicates bias.
“Agreeing with Sally Yates on her handling of a complex legal matter does not indicate bias against the president, and it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with how Andrew conducts himself as a prosecutor—which in my experience is thoughtfully and with a fair and impartial examination of facts,” she told the Post.
Judicial Watch uncovered the emails in a freedom on information lawsuit seeking emails from Yates’ government account.
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