Trump Lawyers' Sudden Realization: They Don't Know What Don McGahn Told Mueller's Team

[DonViejo]

Source: The New York Times



By Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt
Aug. 19, 2018

President Trump’s lawyers do not know just how much the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, told the special counsel’s investigators during months of interviews, a lapse that has contributed to a growing recognition that an early strategy of full cooperation with the inquiry was a potentially damaging mistake.

The president’s lawyers said on Sunday that they were confident that Mr. McGahn had said nothing injurious to the president during the 30 hours of interviews. But Mr. McGahn’s lawyer has offered only a limited accounting of what Mr. McGahn told the investigators, according to two people close to the president.

That has prompted concern among Mr. Trump’s advisers that Mr. McGahn’s statements could help serve as a key component for a damning report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, which the Justice Department could send to Congress, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers realized on Saturday that they had not been provided a full accounting after The New York Times published an article describing Mr. McGahn’s extensive cooperation with Mr. Mueller’s office. After Mr. McGahn was initially interviewed by the special counsel’s office in November, Mr. Trump’s lawyers never asked for a complete description of what Mr. McGahn had said, according to a person close to the president.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/politics/don-mcgahn-trump-mueller.html

[Cary]

1. It's a mistake for #Hitler to be open and honest

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that one.

[GusBob]

11. My first thought too

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

He told them the easiest thing to remember, the truth.

They should know exactly what he told them

[iluvtennis]

13. +1000

[Cary]

14. Speaking in the most general,.generic terms....

... we need to remember that we are dealing with pathologies.

A shared symptom of these pathogies is their dysfunctional relationship with truth. Some of them earnestly believe that their lies are truth. They have been conditioned by hate radio and Fox.

[Lindsay]

2. Considering that both articles

have Maggie Haberman's byline, I am suspecting that this is some sort of eleventy-dimensional kabuki from the WH.

But I am known to be cynical, so I guess my opinion needs to be taken with a generous helping of salt.

[dewsgirl]

4. This is what I've been thinking.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. No you may be right

because she has been busy today.

[Grasswire2]

12. yes, the new Judith Miller nt

[lark]

22. Yeah, I have 2nd thoughts about anything that comes from the pen of drumpfs fav journalist.

Haberman is not to be trusted.

[groundloop]

3. It's NEVER a mistake to be honest

Unless of course you have something to hide, in which case the mistake was committing the misdeed in the first place.

[Perseus]

18. Very well said

Also, I don't know that McGhan can speak to anyone about his discussions with Muller, I have to assume that it is confidential, right?

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Suggesting that refusal to cooperate would be better?

Or do they think McGahn should have lied or obscured something?

Strategy of the Innocents

[Perseus]

19. Well of course they meant that he should have lied or obscured everything

What else would you expect from these elite group of thieves?

[Gothmog]

6. 30 hours is a long time

[Older Than I Look]

7. Could it be that NONE of Trump's jackal-lawyers knew or at least realized

The WH counsel was counsel for the WH, and not Trump personally?

[NCjack]

9. FAKE president* Trump's defense just shifted to "my lawyers were incompetent --

therefore, the jury must find me not guilty."

[djacq]

10. They'll find out what McGahn said at

The impeachment hearings.

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. But...but....

If they don't know what he said, they won't know what to lie about! Unfair!

[TomCADem]

16. Can't Be True or Trump Would Have Fired McGahn

This is Trump's modus operandi. If you don't prostitute yourself entirely to Trump, then you are off the island.

[bitterross]

17. What's the big deal? Nothing to hide - right?

Lol!

[Thunderbeast]

20. He's cutting a deal.

He has been moobed up with Russians for years. Represented Tom DeLay and Jack Abrahmoff in their contacts with Russion "businessmen".

McGahn is in deep shit....and like Gates, wants to see the outside of a jail before he dies.

[lindysalsagal]

21. They're all crooks and they're all incompetents, so ignore any statements they make.

45's inane, hysterical behavior is the real tell: They're screwed, no matter what they do now.

[Calista241]

23. I just don't think a respected lawyer like Emmet Flood would make a mistake

Like that. My problem with this story is that it’s not new. Everyone knew McGahn went to see the special counsel nearly a year ago. We even knew how long he was there. He was just one of the parade of Trump employees and cabinet officials to do so.

My concern is that the Special Counsel WANTS to meet with Trump. They’re fucking negotiating over the questions to be asked. While Roger Stone, whom many suspect to be a target of the Mueller team, couldn’t pay enough money to get a face to face with anyone on Mueller’s team.