In the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin, a conservative columnist and an attorney, describes Yates "giving a tutorial in committee testifying" in which she destroys Republican Senator Cruz:

"Then up came Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) sleazily trying to get [Yates] to opine on Huma Abedin’s email habits(!). When that led nowhere, he took to quoting the statutory basis for the travel ban. She corrected him by pointing out that there was subsequent congressional action that specifically prohibited religious discrimination. Moreover, she took the opportunity to drop the news bomb that the administration ordered the Office of Legal Counsel to not even tell the acting attorney general the ban was in the works. Game, set, match."