A person familiar with Sally Yates’ thinking says the former acting attorney general has told others she felt Donald Trump‘s executive order on refugees appeared to favour Christians over Muslims and she was troubled by that.
The person says Yates knew her firing was a likely outcome if she refused to enforce the order, but did not want to resign and leave the problem unresolved for someone else.
The person was not authorized to discuss the situation by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday that Yates was “rightfully removed.”
READ MORE: Donald Trump fires acting U.S. attorney general after she tells staff not to defend travel ban
A former spokeswoman for Yates said she was not publicly commenting.