11 January 2017, 15:05 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — US Acting Attorney General Dana Boente, appointed after his predecessor refused to enforce President Donald Trump's executive order halting immigration from seven Muslim countries and suspending the refugee program, vowed to continue supporting the order.
"I hereby rescind former Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates January 30, 2017, guidance and direct the men and women of the Department of Justice to do our sworn duty and to defend the lawful orders of our President," Boente said in a statement issued late Monday.
Boente called Trump executive order "both lawful on its face and properly drafted."
Earlier in the day, Trump dismissed Acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she issued memorandum banning the US Justice Department from presenting arguments in defense of Trump’s immigration decree, signed Friday to block refugees and nationals of seven Muslim-majority states from entering the United States.
