Spicer tries to diminish Yates by saying she was a “strong supporter of Clinton.”
Is there any evidence of that? pic.twitter.com/iw7FG6VIcY
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 9, 2017
On Tuesday, Press Secretary Sean Spicer was required to answer multiple questions about ousted National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and the nature of his hiring by Donald Trump’s administration. Why? Because former acting Attorney General Sally Yates had testified the day before at a hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee. And while the day’s biggest reactions concerned Trump’s attempts to gaslight the media on Twitter and favored punching bag Ted Cruz, reporters attending Spicer’s White House Press Briefing were more concerned with the administration’s latest response.
Needless to say, Spicer didn’t disappoint. Especially when he tried politicizing the situation by calling Yates’ political affiliation during the presidential election into question:
“[She is] someone who is not exactly a supporter of the president’s agenda. Who, a couple days after this first conversation took place, refused to uphold a lawful order of the president. Who is not exactly someone that was excited about President Trump taking office or his agenda… We did what we were supposed to do. The president made, ultimately, the right decision… [She was] appointed by the Obama administration and a strong supporter of Clinton.”
Yes, Obama did appoint Yates to the Deputy Attorney General post in 2015, but before that, she was appointed acting U.S. Attorney for Georgia’s Northern District by President George W. Bush in 2004. What’s more, her career with the Justice Department stems much further back, across multiple administrations and parties. And to make matters worse for Spicer’s claims, journalists and Twitter et al. quickly uncovered just how wrong he was about Yates’ supposed political affiliations.
Sally Yates was a "strong supporter of Clinton," per Spicer. How does he prove that? She was a senior DOJ official.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/862008551736258561
Sally Yates was hired to US Attorney's office by conservative Republican Bob Barr under first Bush, later promoted under Clinton, GWB, Obama
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 8, 2017
Sean Spicer just called Sally Yates a "political opponent of the POTUS."
…Yates is a 30-yr DOJ employee who was appointed by a Republican
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) May 9, 2017
FEC shows no donations from Sally Yates to anyone. Including Hillary Clinton. What is evidence, as Spicer claims, of her supporting Clinton?
— Matt Viser (@mviser) May 9, 2017
What’s evidence for Sally Yates supporting Clinton? Spicer says it “was widely rumored” she’d have a job in a Clinton administration DOJ.
— Matt Viser (@mviser) May 9, 2017
If Spicer’s egregiously false claims about Yates’ political affiliations, and whether or not they influenced her career, weren’t bad enough, his repeated attempts to qualify her warnings about Flynn as a “heads up” drew plenty of criticism as well:
Spicer, again: “somebody came over, gave us a heads up”
Yates told WH that Flynn lied, was compromised and could be blackmailed by Russia
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 9, 2017
Spicer keeps calling Yates' W.H. meeting a "heads up".
She warned the W.H. that Flynn was comprised and at risk of blackmail by Russians.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 9, 2017
Yates: Flynn was caught lying to the VP, is compromised by the Russians, and succeptible to blackmail.
Spicer: Yea, it was just a heads up.
— Matty Ice (@MattyIceUSA) May 9, 2017
Spicer probably should have just bolted again.