Flashback of the Day

At her 2015 confirmation hearing, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, asked Sally Yates, the acting attorney general Trump fired last night, an interesting question:

Sessions: Do you think the attorney general has the responsibility to say no to the president if he asks for something that’s improper? A lot of people have defended the Loretta Lynch nomination, for example, by saying: ‘Well, he appoints somebody who’s going to execute his views. What’s wrong with that?’ But if the views the president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or the deputy attorney general say no?

Yates: Senator, I believe that the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has the obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and to give their independent legal advice to the president.

The exchange starts at about 1:15 in the video.

First Read: “The question Democrats are asking today: Can someone like Sessions who played such a big role in Trump’s campaign — and whose top staff now work for Trump — show that same kind of independence at the Justice Department?”