During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates told Cooper that her concern about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “integrity” is why she decided not to resign during the travel ban controversy.

Yates told Cooper, “Resigning would have protected my personal integrity but it would not have protected the integrity of the Department of Justice.”

Yates was fired as the acting attorney general after she refused to defend Donald Trump’s travel ban which is still entangled in the courts.

As the acting attorney general, Yates had the duty to carry out the law that is in accordance with the constitution.

And Yates did not believe that Donald Trump’s travel ban was in accordance with the constitution because it used religion in order to blacklist individuals.

During her 2015 confirmation hearing for the deputy attorney general position, Yates made it clear to then Senator Jeff Sessions that she will not enforce any executive order she believed was not in accordance with the constitution.

Yates told Sessions, “I believe that the attorney general and the deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the constitution and to give their independent legal advice to the president.”

According to Yates, Trump never spoke with her about the travel ban. He did, however, speak with the DOJ’s office of legal counsel.

Sessions, who voted against Yates, became the attorney general this year. Cooper asked Yates if she was surprised that Trump fired her.

She responded that she “wasn’t looking to be fired” but that she “couldn’t’ve done anything else and lived with myself.”

Yates also told Cooper that she received a letter, informing her that she was fired and that the letter was not written by Donald Trump.