Sally Yates claims Trump 'would not have the moral authority to lead this country' if he refuses to talk to Mueller

(Image credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Fortune)

published 13 April 2018

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said Friday that despite reports that talks between President Trump's legal team and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office have deteriorated in the wake of the FBI raid of Michael Cohen's office earlier this week, it is still imperative that the president sit for questioning. "I don't understand how he would have the moral authority to lead this country if he didn't answer those questions," she said at the Women in the World conference in New York City, as reported by The Associated Press' Steve Peoples.

Yates was fired in early 2017 after she refused to defend Trump's executive order banning travelers from majority Muslim countries.

Prior to the FBI raid on Monday, Trump and Mueller's teams were reportedly finalizing the timing, length, and scope of the interview. "Trump's legal team is now re-evaluating what, if any, interview the President should offer," CNN reported Friday, with one person claiming the president's lawyers considered the raid a "major breach of trust." Trump has aimed to silence multiple reports claiming he has attempted to fire Mueller, or will soon, tweeting Wednesday: "if I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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