White House denies it's muzzling Yates as Justice Department ties her hands

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates

Minutes after the White House released an unsigned statement Tuesday calling reporting that it had tried to muzzle Sally Yates “entirely false,” CBS tweeted a March 24 letter showing former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was told by current Justice Department officials that she needed White House consent in order to testify about her conversations with the Office of the Counsel to the President.

Yates’ lawyer sought permission from the Justice Department for her to testify about “non-classified facts” pertaining to her communications with the White House regarding “concerns about the conduct of a senior official” (likely Michael Flynn). Here’s the partial response she received from Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools.

"Ms. Yates seeks authorization to testify about communications she and a senior Department official had with the Office of the Counsel to the President. Such communications are likely covered by the presidential communcations privilege and possibly the deliberative process privilege. The President owns those privileges. Therefore, to the extent that Ms. Yates needs consent to disclose the details of those communications to HPSCI, she needs to consult with the White House." [emphasis added]

But the anonymous (yes, anonymous!) White House statement says the Washington Post’s reporting that the Trump administration has sought to block Yates from testifying is just hogwash.

Unsigned statement from the White House on the Washington Post story, calling it "totally false." pic.twitter.com/ZuA6kPLsf5

— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) March 28, 2017

Check out the full Justice Department letter below.

JUST IN: A 3/24 letter from DOJ to Sally Yates states she must get authorization from WH to testify about convos w/ WH, CBS News can confirm pic.twitter.com/qOmYqqlOuj

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 28, 2017