what do you think is going to happen? i suspect that senator sessions because he was in the senate will probably have enough friends among the republican caucus in the senate that s going to go through. he ll get an up and down vote and probably have confirmation. and then this will be moot. then i think we ll very much see the trump justice department led by attorney general sessions defend this executive order pretty vigorously and then it s up to the courts. let me bring back the former commissioner of u.s. customs and border protection who is still with us as well. you pointed out you know sally yates. you would not be surprised though to see her fired. you know, i m not sure what would happen. i just know her as a prosecutor, as a u.s. attorney, as the deputy attorney general. and she s got a solid, solid reputation with law enforcement. so i wish i knew but you know i m not going to progrenosticat
your assumption i assume your assumption is the president is not going to tolerate this? you know, i don t have an assumption one way or another on that. i just know that sally yates is what we would call in my law enforcement days a stand up prosecutor. she was the deputy attorney general under loretta lynch. she was nominated back in 2015. she was asked to stay on as acting attorney general but now because of this huge, huge uproar that has developed, she s been i m told at the department of justice, commissioner, for 20, maybe 25 years as a career justice department official. but potentially at least, i think you ll agree, potentially that career could come to an end right now. you know, it would be hard for me to think about what s going to happen next. i just know what kind of a
senate. 48 democrats. looks pretty much along party lines. the only way he isn t confirmed if there are some republican senators who bolt and i wonder if this crisis that we re seeing right now is going to impact them. right. you were just talking to the other guest that was trying to text with some republicans to try to get the answer to that question. i think people are digesting this news as they have been over the past couple of days, but particularly with this latest news that evan broke. you know, if you think about the raw numbers, you know, they the republicans only have 52 seat majority, 53 if you count the vice president. that s not a very big margin to work with. if there are enough republicans or even a handful of republicans i should say that are concerned enough about their current colleague, jeff sessions, becoming the attorney general to implement something that somebody who is a long-time career justice department
reaction at 4:43 on a friday afternoon to give that information to 60,000 employees working in these different airports and points of entry, i would have found that disturbing. look, i work for three mayors as police chief in two of the country s largest cities. mayors always included their law enforcement executives in the planning, because really you re kind of the pointy end of the spear and that s what cdp is when it comes to border protection. customs and border protection. i m going to have you stand by, commissioner, i m going to bring in experts and correspondents to deal with breaking news. pretty dramatic breaking news, you heard the news that the acting attorney general is not ready, for various reasons, to defend the president s orders on these travel bans, on these immigration issues. it s dramatic. she cites solemn obligation to always seek justice. look, it s not a surprise, i don t think, that somebody
justice department lawyers not repeept not make legal arguments defending the president s executive order on immigration and refugees. i want to bring in a law professor at the university of texas school of law, a constitutional scholar. he s joining us on the phone. all right. so give us your reaction. well, wolf, i think it s a pretty powerful statement by sally yates, who is, as you said, acting attorney general, that she at least believes the executive order handed down by president trump last friday is, indeed, unlawful and unconstitutional and is not going to instruct attorneys, senior justice department officials to defend the order in court. so what happens next? so we already have a ballot, half a dozen pending lawsuits, including some of the cases that come up this weekend and a pair of new cases that were filed today in which folks of different shapes and sizes are challenging the executive order. if the justice department isn t going to defend it, that s going to ma