Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday morning that former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is a "political hack" — even though several of his fellow Republicans once praised her as a "hero."
"A good book once said and still says you can't serve two masters and apparently we had an acting attorney general that was still serving the Obama administration," Gohmert said. "She showed herself to be a political hack and hacks have to be jacked and she’s been jacked and she is gone."
The Texas congressman also insisted that Trump was merely following a policy first set up by the Obama administration (a false claim that has been repeatedly debunked). Gohmert then went on to claim that Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, will be a better attorney general once he is confirmed.
"It’ll be good to have Jeff Sessions because he is loyal to the constitution and not to political philosophy of the Obama years. It'll be awesome," Gohmert said. "She violated her oath. I mean, she needed to go. She obviously had a political agenda."
These statements are in stark contrast to past statements made by Republican politicians about Yates, who was asked by the Trump administration to remain in her post until Sessions could be confirmed.
"Sally is a great hero of the state of Georgia for 25 years she’s been in the office of Northern District of Georgia prosecuting criminal on public integrity all kind of things like the Olympic Park bombing," said Sen. Johnny Isaakson, R-Georgia, during her 2015 confirmation hearing. "For the last five years, she’s been the chief attorney, and she’s proved herself over and over and over again to be to be effective to be fair to be diligent and to be the kind of person that you would want representing you in the U.S. Attorney’s office . . . She is a lady of impeccable taste, impeccable integrity and an impeccable record, and I’m proud to second her nomination."
Yates was on the receiving end of similar praise from Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia.
"For years, she has prosecuted the most violate criminal organizations in Georgia, MS-13, and other notorious gangs, drug cartels, human smuggling, sex traffickers," said Perdue. "The people in Georgia were fortunate to have benefited from Ms. Yates’s work in the service of justice for so many years."
Yates was fired by President Trump on Monday for refusing to carry out an executive order that restricts immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
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