{"id":26094,"date":"2017-01-31T13:08:13","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=26094"},"modified":"2017-01-31T13:08:13","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:08:13","slug":"the-monday-night-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/31\/the-monday-night-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"The Monday Night Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October, 1973, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox had done something Republican [p<\/strike>]Residents can’t stand.  He was doing his job.  He had just subpoenaed the soon to become infamous Watergate Tapes that contained more than enough criminal evidence to end the career of crooked Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon.  Nixon ordered AG Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, Richardson refused, Nixon persisted, and Richardson resigned.  Then Nixon order Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox.  Ruckelshaus refused, Nixon persisted, and Ruckelshaus resigned.  That made Solicitor General Robert Bork Acting AG.  Bork fired Cox.  This is known as the Saturday night Massacre.  Now that we have a Republican in the White House that makes Nixon seem like a choir boy by comparison, it took him only ten days to fire an acting AG for doing her job.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0131Yates\"<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has fired the acting US attorney general after she told justice department lawyers not to defend his executive order banning entry for people from seven Muslim-majority countries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The White House said on Monday that Sally Yates had \u201cbetrayed\u201d the department by refusing to enforce a legal order that was \u201cdesigned to protect the citizens of the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump drafted in Dana Boente, US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, to replace Yates as acting attorney general. The president\u2019s official appointee, anti-immigration hardliner Senator Jeff Sessions, is yet to be confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n

As the country\u2019s top law enforcement official, Yates, who was appointed by Barack Obama, had control over the justice department\u2019s immigration litigation office, which has handled the federal complaints filed against Trump\u2019s order<\/a> since his bombshell policy was announced on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution\u2019s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is rig<\/strong>ht,\u201d Yates wrote in a letter to justice department lawyers. \u201cAt present I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful<\/strong>.\u201d… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From <The Guardian<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

Lawrence O’Donnell discussed the incident in detail in two segment of The Last Word.<\/font><\/p>\n