Tag: Don McGahn

Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website February 10, 2018:]

President: Intel Dems wanted to ‘blame the White House for lack of transparency’

President Trump speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last month, blasting House Intelligence Democrats over a rebuttal memo of which he is blocking the release. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump is accusing House Intelligence Committee Democrats with purposely crafting their rebuttal memo about FBI and Justice Department officials’ actions early in the Russia election meddling probe in a way that would back his White House into a corner.

The president used a Saturday tweet to explain his Friday night decision to block the release of the Democratic document that counters one released last week by the panel’s Republicans. Trump claims the Democrats crafted “a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods (and more), would have to be heavily redacted.”

The GOP president accused the committee’s Democrats with crafting their document so they could “blame the White House for lack of transparency.” Continue reading “Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says”

Top Trump Aides Are Said to Have Long Known About Abuse Accusations

The following article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Katie Rogers and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website February 8, 2018:

Rob Porter on Monday at Joint Base Andrews. He resigned from the White House on Wednesday. Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

WASHINGTON — White House officials conceded Thursday that they regretted the way they handled accusations against Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned Wednesday after two former wives publicly accused him of abusing them. But they refused to provide any information about when President Trump’s most senior advisers first learned about the episodes.

Mr. Porter abruptly departed the West Wing on Thursday afternoon, one day after John F. Kelly, the chief of staff, and other senior officials had issued statements defending him and said they would prefer that he remain in his post. Continue reading “Top Trump Aides Are Said to Have Long Known About Abuse Accusations”

The White House’s Rob Porter debacle is a sign of incompetence or hubris — or both

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website February 8, 2018:

Rob Porter’s ex-wife Jennie Willoughby told The Post in an interview that the White House aide was abusive during their marriage. (Dalton Bennett/The Washington Post)

“Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor, and I can’t say enough good things about him,” White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly said in an initial statement Tuesday about allegations that the top White House aide had abused an ex-wife.

By Wednesday afternoon, Porter resigned amid allegations that he had abused another ex-wife, who produced photographs of her black eye. And Kelly was suddenly “shocked.” Continue reading “The White House’s Rob Porter debacle is a sign of incompetence or hubris — or both”

The Daily 202: Five takeaways from Trump’s thwarted effort to fire Mueller

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website January 26, 2018:

President Trump last June sought to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III but backed off after White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn threatened to resign. (Bastien Inzaurralde, Melissa Macaya/The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: The revelation that Donald Trump sought to fire Bob Mueller last June, but reluctantly backed off after Don McGahn threatened to resign, is the latest reminder that fear of political fallout has done more to insulate the special counsel from the president than respect for the rule of law.

The showdown, first reported by the New York Times, was confirmed by two people familiar with the episode. Continue reading “The Daily 202: Five takeaways from Trump’s thwarted effort to fire Mueller”

Trump moved to fire Mueller in June, bringing White House counsel to the brink of leaving

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website January 26, 2018:

President Trump denied reports on Jan. 26 that he had ordered special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to be fired in June 2017, calling them “fake news.” (Reuters)

President Trump sought the firing of Robert S. Mueller III last June, shortly after the special counsel took over the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and he backed off only after White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn threatened to resign over the move.

The extraordinary showdown was confirmed by two people familiar with the episode, which was first reported by the New York Times. Continue reading “Trump moved to fire Mueller in June, bringing White House counsel to the brink of leaving”

Multiple Trump officials pressed Sessions not to recuse self from Russia probe

The following article by Ken Dilanian was posted on the NBC News website January 5, 2018:

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s counsel and multiple other White House officials tried to talk Attorney General Jeff Sessions out of recusing himself from the Russia investigation, a senior U.S. official told NBC News, amid reports the effort was orchestrated by Trump himself.

In the weeks before Sessions recused himself from the probe in March, White House Counsel Don McGahn and other White House officials called him and urged him not to disqualify himself from running the probe, the senior official said. Continue reading “Multiple Trump officials pressed Sessions not to recuse self from Russia probe”

White House Counsel Knew in January Flynn Probably Violated the Law

The following article by Murray Waas was posted on the ForeignPolicy.com website December 20, 2017:

Don McGahn was looking at whether the national security advisor violated federal laws just days after Trump moved into the White House.

The White House turned over records this fall to special counsel Robert Mueller revealing that in the very first days of the Trump presidency, Don McGahn researched federal law dealing both with lying to federal investigators and with violations of the Logan Act, a centuries-old federal law that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments, according to three people with direct knowledge of the confidential government documents.

The records reflected concerns that McGahn, the White House counsel, had that Michael Flynn, then the president’s national security advisor, had possibly violated either one or both laws at the time, according to two of the sources. The disclosure that these records exist and that they are in the possession of the special counsel could bolster any potential obstruction of justice case against President Donald Trump. Continue reading “White House Counsel Knew in January Flynn Probably Violated the Law”

Trump Is Rapidly Reshaping the Judiciary. Here’s How.

The following article by Charlie Savage was posted on the New York Times website November 11, 2017:

WASHINGTON — In the weeks before Donald J. Trump took office, lawyers joining his administration gathered at a law firm near the Capitol, where Donald F. McGahn II, the soon-to-be White House counsel, filled a white board with a secret battle plan to fill the federal appeals courts with young and deeply conservative judges.

Mr. McGahn, instructed by Mr. Trump to maximize the opportunity to reshape the judiciary, mapped out potential nominees and a strategy, according to two people familiar with the effort: Start by filling vacancies on appeals courts with multiple openings and where Democratic senators up for re-election next year in states won by Mr. Trump — like Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania — could be pressured not to block his nominees. And to speed them through confirmation, avoid clogging the Senate with too many nominees for the district courts, where legal philosophy is less crucial. Continue reading “Trump Is Rapidly Reshaping the Judiciary. Here’s How.”

Did Trump obstruct justice? Rod Rosenstein may have just provided another clue.

The following article by Greg Sargent was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:

THE MORNING PLUM:

The question of whether President Trump obstructed justice leads inevitably back to his true rationale for firing former FBI director James B. Comey — and to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s apparent participation (witting or not) in the creation of a justification for that abrupt action.

The New York Times has some new reporting today on Rosenstein’s involvement in the Comey firing that brings this critical moment into much sharper focus — and raises further questions that, if answered, would lend a great deal to our understanding of what really drove Trump’s hatcheting of the man overseeing the probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russian meddling in the election. Continue reading “Did Trump obstruct justice? Rod Rosenstein may have just provided another clue.”