Special counsel highlights chaotic West Wing where staff tried to save president from himself
Presidential orders given but often ignored. Ample cursing. Aides working behind the scenes to protect Donald Trump from his own anger and impulsiveness. And an effort to prevent the president from firing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III despite his determination to do so.
Mueller’s long-anticipated report reveals a chaotic West Wing driven by paranoia and frequent outbursts from a green president who wanted to remove the special counsel and demanded that his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, be more like predecessors Robert F. Kennedy and Eric H. Holder Jr., whom he felt “protected” the respective presidents they served, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.
It also reveals that his current press secretary misled reporters on multiple occasions, and that he circumvented the White House counsel’s office by having a domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller, research whether he could oust an FBI director without cause. And it shows the president’s penchant for cursing under stress, including when he declared “I’m f—ed” after Mueller was appointed.
View the complete April 18 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.