Trump Fires Olympic Park Bombing Prosecutor

(ATR) U.S. President Donald Trump wastes little time making his first high-level firing. Sally Yates was axed as acting U.S. attorney general Monday by the president just hours after she directed staff not to enforce the new ban on U.S. visas for citizens of seven Middle East and North African nations. Yates said there were constitutional issues with the executive order

Yates, 56, has links back to the Atlanta Olympics. She was born in Atlanta and earned her law degree at the University of Georgia.

She was on duty as an assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta at the time of the 1996 Games. She prosecuted Eric Rudolph for the bombing in Centennial Olympic Park that killed one person and injured more than 100 others midway through the Games. Rudolph is serving a life sentence in prison.

As chief of the fraud and public corruption unit in the Atlanta office, Yates prosecuted the tax evasion case against Bill Campbell, who served as mayor of Atlanta during the Olympics. Campbell was found guilty in 2006 and served time in prison before being released.

During the Olympics, Campbell launched a controversial program that leased sidewalk space in downtown Atlanta to an array of vendors. While the appearance of thedozens of vendors was assailed by the IOC and other observers as commercialism run amuck. The charges he faced eight years after the Olympics and after he had left as mayor, were not connected to the Games.

Yates became U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia in 2010 and deputy attorney general in 2015. Earlier this month she accepted a request by President Trump to remain in her office until a new Attorney General is confirmed by the Senate. As a political appointee of Barack Obama, Yates was expected to depart the Justice Department soon, regardless. Jeff Sessions, a U.S. Senator from Alabama, is in the final stages of his confirmation for the post and could take office by the end of the week.

While Sessions will back enforcement of the executive order, the impact of the order on sports travel to the U.S. is expected to be minimal. A statement from the U.S. Olympic Committee says it has received assurances from the Trump administration that visas for sport will be subject to exception from the order.

The 90-day order blocks visas for citizens from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Trump administration says the travel ban is not anti-Muslim. The executive order is being challenged in federal court.

Written by Ed Hula.

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