Trump’s Lawyers Admit They Never Got Full Accounting of McGhan’s Statements

Don McGahn speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Photo by Gage Skidmore.

The dawning of a realization that may end up being a costly mistake.

When the news about the New York Times exclusive, White House Counsel, Don McGahn, Has Cooperated Extensively in Mueller Inquiry dropped on Saturday morning detailing the extent of McGahn’s cooperation it is being said it rocked Trump and his lawyers and set them scrambling as the realization dawned on them that none of them actually knew the full extent of what McGahn said to Mueller and his team of investigators, the NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt reported on Sunday.

It was the advice of Trump’s former lawyers John Dowd and Ty Cobb last summer to argue for the White House lawyer Don McGahn to fully cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation – including waiving attorney -client privilege – last November because they “believed that the cooperation would help prove that the president had done nothing wrong” and “it would bring a swifter end to the investigation.”

At that time McGahn and his own lawyer, William Burck, couldn’t understand why Trump’s personal lawyers were willing to go to such extraordinary, and practically unheard-of measures, but then confusion turned to concern that Dowd and Cobb were planning on setting up McGahn as a fall-guy for blame of any wrong-doing thanks to Dowd’s and Cobb’s infamous lunch right outside the NYT’s office building in September.

It was then McGahn and Burck who decided they were going to “embrace the opening to cooperate fully with Mr. Mueller in an effort to demonstrate that Mr. McGahn had done nothing wrong.”

While McGahn is said to have given 30 hours of interview to Mueller and his team, Burck “has offered only a limited accounting of what Mr. McGahn told the investigators, according to two people close to the president.”

McGahn has now gone from White House lawyer to key witness and suddenly the debate is reignited among Trump allies about whether it was a mistake or not as to whether it was bad advice to let McGahn fully cooperate with the investigation. Chris Christie weighed in on the matter on ABC New’s “This Week” saying “It’s bad legal advice, bad lawyering, and this is the result,” and former White House chief of staff Steve Bannon saying, “This was a reckless and dangerously naïve strategy.”

According to “people familiar with his thinking” Trump ‘was rattled by the Times report” and “jolted by the notion that he did not know what Mr. Gahn had shared.”

On Sunday morning Trump took to his phone and responded via Twitter to the NYT’s article.


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14 Comments

  1. Great article Halodoc! I read William Burck, McGahn’s attorney, explanation on why he let his client fully cooperate to Mueller with no executive privileged; he blamed Trump’s attorneys.

    WH counsel McGahn’s attorney did not fully apprise Trump’s legal team on Mueller interviews
    https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/19/politics/trump-legal-team-mcgahn/index.html

    “…When contacted by CNN, Burck declined to comment on the Times’ report on Sunday. Burck said in a statement Saturday, “President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn’s testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the Special Counsel team’s questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must…”

  2. Thanks for the write up Halodoc. There is so much to follow, and new stuff coming out everyday, these refresher courses are appreciated.

    Trump is going on about this again this morning, and begins with “Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller…” Of course this is BS, but he gets to do it because this is what Hannity, Levin, Pirro, Dobbs, and many others are putting out there. Mueller’s record of lifetime achievements speaks for itself, and these leeches will never amount to anything more than occupants of a noisy hen-house. Shame on all of them.

  3. According to “people familiar with his thinking” Trump ‘was rattled by the Times report” and “jolted by the notion that he did not know what Mr. Gahn had shared.”

    You know…just the way any innocent person would react.

  4. So, McGahn probably came aboard to get some notoriety and probably didn’t believe Dernald was as stupid as everyone has said.
    He was wrong.

  5. former White House chief of staff Steve Bannon saying, “This was a reckless and dangerously naïve strategy.”

    The naivete was on the part of Dowd and Cobb for ever thinking their client Trump was telling them the truth. About anything…

  6. I think that this may be much more serious than simple collusion and McGhan having access to the truth was afraid they would eventually strip his lawyer client privilege and implicate him in the obstruction of justice over the Comey firing and he saw what was coming. I’m pretty sure that he did the lawyerly thing and tried to walk down the middle of the road and not involve himself but not endanger Trump either. I’m positive he doesn’t want to keep a stable of bodyguards for the rest of his life if he rolls on Trump and angers Trumps crazy alt right base.

  7. It was the advice of Trump’s former lawyers John Dowd and Ty Cobb last summer to argue for the White House lawyer Don McGahn to fully cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation – including waiving attorney -client privilege – last November because they “believed that the cooperation would help prove that the president had done nothing wrong” and “it would bring a swifter end to the investigation.”

    Were Dowd and Cobb so clueless that they actually believed their client’s protestations of his innocence?
    At least Giuliani appears to be aware of Trump’s guilt, which is why he has adopted the “squirrel” legal strategy:
    Hide your nut in a safe place where prosecutors cannot interview him, then scurry about and chatter in a wild, frantic manner in hopes of creating distractions that take attention away from the fact that you are hiding a nut.

  8. According to “people familiar with his thinking” Trump ‘was rattled by the Times report” and “jolted by the notion that he did not know what Mr. Gahn had shared.”

    I don’t get it. Why is he rattled? He seems to have waived his attorney-client privilege. You should then assume that McGahn ‘shared’ everything he knew. So, what’s to be rattled about?

    I’ll assume this. Dowd and Cobb are rattled because they now realize that Trump lied to them about his and his campaigns involvement with the Russians, which may, at least, impact their reputations. Trump is rattled because he now realizes McGahn isn’t his personal ‘Cohen-like’ lawyer who will protect him from the boogie man, and truth may be in Muellers hands.

  9. Expect McGahn and Trump’s lawyer’s (other than his TV lawyer Ghouliani) to be fired to quit before the Trumptanic sinks after the Midterms.

  10. A little McGahn background

    Should Trump Run: Don McGahn Has Been Covering for Roger …

    https://www.emptywheel.net/…/should-trump-run-don-mcgahn-has-been-covering-for…

    Cached2 days ago – During McGahn’s FEC tenure, one of those he helped save from … In other words, White House Counsel Don McGahn — the subject of a Maggie and Mike …. And this is a “testing the waters” PAC: what’s the difference between that and a ….. with a lot of help from courtiers like McGahn, and Mickey Cohen.

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