Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates responded to President Trump in a rare tweet after he attacked the Department of Justice (DOJ), saying the employees “deserve better.”
“For 27 years, I was privileged to work with the thousands of career DOJ lawyers and FBI agents who work hard every day yo keep our country safe, our rights protected, and the rule of law intact,” Yates tweeted on Monday. “They deserve better than this.”
Her tweet came after Trump renewed his attacks on the DOJ, alleging it was “slow walking” congressional requests for documents.
{mosads} “So sad that the Department of ‘Justice’ and the FBI are slow walking, or even not giving, the unreacted documents requested by Congress,” Trump tweeted earlier Monday. “An embarrassment to our country!”
Conservative lawmakers in the House have subpoenaed the DOJ for documents in their investigation into what Republicans claim was potential surveillance abuse within the department during the 2016 presidential race.
An influx of document requests from Republicans has required the FBI to double the number of staff working on the demands, the bureau’s director, Christopher Wray, said.
They have already supplied lawmakers with over 3,000 documents, Wray said.
Trump abruptly fired Yates from her post last year after she refused to defend his travel ban. She has since become a frequent critic of the Trump administration.
Yates does not tweet often but has used the social media platform on occasion to respond to Trump’s tweets.
In January, she blasted the president for “beyond abnormal” and “dangerous” tweets about FBI and Justice Department officials.