In the international crime drama/spy thriller that is the Mueller report, former White House Counsel Don McGahn plays a prominent role.
In fact, if this were a movie, McGahn would be the odds-on favorite for “best supporting actor”.
Even before William Barr released a redacted version of the full report on Thursday, Trump aides were nervous about Mueller’s interviews with McGahn who, you’re reminded, found himself “cooperating extensively” with the probe last year on the (ultimately mistaken) assumption that Trump was setting him up to be the fall guy on any obstruction charge.
Relive the McGahn saga
‘He Didn’t Incriminate Him’: Don McGahn’s Lawyer Tells Trump Things Should Be Maybe, Probably Ok
“Trump’s legal team never thoroughly debriefed McGahn’s lawyer about what his client told investigators, leaving them in the dark about what he said”, the New York Times wrote last week, before noting that prior to the report’s public release, “White House officials had grown increasingly concerned about what McGahn told the Mueller team and [worried] his statements could be used in the report to paint a damning portrait of the president.”
Those worries turned out to be well founded. McGahn featured heavily throughout, and as the media and Congress raced to parse the 400-page tome, some of the first takeaways related to discussions in and around the president’s efforts to get rid of Mueller.
Specifically, Trump pressured McGahn not to reveal information that would validate media reports about efforts to fire the special counsel. “The President reacted to the news stories by directing White House officials to tell McGahn to dispute the story and create a record stating he had not been ordered to have the Special Counsel removed”, the report reads. Here, for those who missed it, are the details around Trump’s well-documented effort to dismiss Mueller:
On June 17, 2017 the president called McGahn at home and directed him to call the acting attorney general and say that the special counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre.
In a widely-cited passage from the report, the special counsel lists McGahn’s refusal to act on Trump’s directions as one reason why the president avoided a potential obstruction charge. Here is that passage:
In other words, Trump’s own aides and advisors saved him by not carrying out orders which they perceived to be dangerous and/or illegal.
Trump doesn’t seem to understand that, though. Because on Monday, he said the following about the notion that anyone disobeyed his commands:
Late last week, Trump took a series of thinly-veiled jabs at McGahn. “Watch out for people that take so-called ‘notes,’ when the notes never existed until needed”, the president tweeted, a reference to the following excerpt from the report:
The President then asked, ‘What-about these notes? Why do you take notes? Lawyers don’t take notes. I never had a lawyer who took notes.’
McGahn responded that he keeps notes because he is a ‘real lawyer’ and explained that notes create a record and are not a bad thing.”
The President said, ‘I’ve had a lot of great lawyers, like Roy Cohn. He did not take notes.’
Fast forward to Monday evening, and House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler subpoenaed McGahn. Here’s the statement:
The Special Counsel’s report, even in redacted form, outlines substantial evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction and other abuses. It now falls to Congress to determine for itself the full scope of the misconduct and to decide what steps to take in the exercise of our duties of oversight, legislation and constitutional accountability.
Following the scheduled testimony of Attorney General William Barr on May 2, 2019 and the expected testimony of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which we have requested, the Committee has now asked for documents from Mr. McGahn by May 7, and to hear from him in public on May 21. Mr. McGahn is a critical witness to many of the alleged instances of obstruction of justice and other misconduct described in the Mueller report. His testimony will help shed further light on the President’s attacks on the rule of law, and his attempts to cover up those actions by lying to the American people and requesting others do the same.
The Special Counsel and his team made clear that based on their investigation, they were unable to ‘reach [the] judgment . . . .that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice.’ As a co-equal branch of government, Congress has a constitutional obligation to hold the President accountable, and the planned hearings will be an important part of that process.
This is the latest in a series of aggressive moves by Nadler – whose committee would oversee any impeachment proceedings – aimed at ensuring Congress makes its own determination about obstruction which, by any honest assessment of the special counsel report, is precisely what Mueller intended.
Last week, Nadler reiterated that he’ll “issue a subpoena for the full report and the underlying materials”. When pressed by reporters, he did not rule out impeachment. Last month, Nadler issued dozens of document requests aimed at investigating possible obstruction, public corruption and abuses of power. McGahn was among the 81 individuals and entities to receive a request.
Over the weekend, Elizabeth Warren threw her weight behind the impeachment push, but Democrats remain torn on the merits of a strategy that involves attempting to oust Trump before the 2020 election.
One imagines Trump will weigh in on this ahead of McGahn’s testimony. The president has spent the last several days binge-tweeting about the report, and, as noted above, at least one tweet was aimed squarely at the former White House Counsel.
Full subpoena
McGahn Subpoena 4.22.19
