Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates ripped President Trump in a rare tweet on Saturday, warning him not to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Yates wrote that firing Rosenstein would effectively be the same as firing special counsel Robert Mueller, since Rosenstein appointed Mueller and oversees his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
“Make no mistake about what’s at stake here: firing Rosenstein would be the same unconscionable assault on the rule of law as firing Mueller,” she wrote. “He controls scope of the Mueller investigation and what becomes public. Both D’s and R’s should reject sham excuses to fire Rosenstein.”
“And you can’t fire a prosecutor because you’re unhappy he approved a search warrant that relates to your own conduct,” she added in a second tweet. “No one is above the law.”
Speculation has been building that Trump may be preparing to fire Rosenstein in response to the FBI raid on the office and hotel room of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, which Rosenstein personally signed off on. The deputy attorney general is the only person with the authority to fire Mueller.
{mosads}Rosenstein has reportedly been telling people that he is prepared to be fired.
Yates, a harsh critic of Trump, also said Friday that if Trump does not sit down for an interview with Mueller, he does not “have the moral authority to lead.”
Trump fired Yates soon after taking office after she refused to uphold his controversial travel ban executive order.