The White House has named Dana Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as acting attorney general. "At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful," Yates wrote. Also today, State Department diplomats circulated various drafts of a memo objecting to Trump's order, which was issued Friday. Yates will probably be replaced soon by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump's attorney general nominee, who could be confirmed as early as Thursday or Friday. The White House, meanwhile, continued to defend Trump's executive order.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 31, 2017 02:35 UTC