I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

But I will bear true faith and allegiance to the sea that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

So help me God, so help me God.

So help me God.

Welcome to the oath. I'm Chuck Rosenberg and I am honored to be your host for a series of compelling conversations with fascinating people from the world of public service.

My guest today is Sally Yates, in part because so many of you have written to me and asked to hear from her.

Sally spent almost three decades in the United States Department of Justice working her way up from Line Federal Prosecutor all the way to the number two ranking position in the Justice Department,

the Deputy Attorney General.

In January of 2017, Sally Yates served as the Acting Attorney General of the United States.

She was fired from that job by President Trump for insubordination when she refused to have the Department of Justice enforce a travel ban issued by the President, which restricted travel to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Sally will explain why she took the stand that she did and why in her view, there was no other principled course.

Sally Yates, welcome to the oath.

Thanks for having me, Chuck. I'm glad to be here.

It's a pleasure to spend some time with you.

You were born in Atlanta, Georgia, to a family of lawyers and ministers and I think you said you had two options, one or the other.

It was not a terribly original career choice that I made where my father and both of my grandfather's uncles, cousins and most importantly my paternal grandmother.

You called her mama.

We did, yeah.

What was her actual name?

I was Tabitha, which is some people pronounce it Tabitha, but it's biblically pronounced Tabitha.

And tell us about her.

She was a remarkable woman.

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