The Mueller Report by The Washington Post

Author:The Washington Post
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner

3. The Press Reports that the President is Being Investigated for Obstruction of Justice and the President Directs the White House Counsel to Have the Special Counsel Removed

On the evening of June 14, 2017, the Washington Post published an article stating that the Special Counsel was investigating whether the President had attempted to obstruct justice.1844 This was the first public report that the President himself was under investigation by the Special Counsel’s Office, and cable news networks quickly picked up on the report.1845 The Post story stated that the Special Counsel was interviewing intelligence community leaders, including Coats and Rogers, about what the President had asked them to do in response to Comey’s March 20, 2017 testimony; that the inquiry into obstruction marked “a major turning point” in the investigation; and that while “Trump had received private assurances from then-FBT Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation,” “[o]fficials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing.”1846 That evening, at approximately 10:31 p.m., the President called McGahn on McGahn’s personal cell phone and they spoke for about 15 minutes.1847 McGahn did not have a clear memory of the call but thought they might have discussed the stories reporting that the President was under investigation.1848

Beginning early the next day, June 15, 2017, the President issued a series of tweets acknowledging the existence of the obstruction investigation and criticizing it. He wrote: “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice”;1849 “You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history—led by some very bad and conflicted people!”;1850 and “Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, ‘bleached’ emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared—& they talk about obstruction?”1851 The next day, June 16, 2017, the President wrote additional tweets criticizing the investigation: “After 7 months of investigations & committee hearings about my ‘collusion with the Russians,’ nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!”;1852 and “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.”1853

On Saturday, June 17, 2017, the President called McGahn and directed him to have the Special Counsel removed.1854 McGahn was at home and the President was at Camp David.1855 In interviews with this Office, McGahn recalled that the President called him at home twice and on both occasions directed him to call Rosenstein and say that Mueller had conflicts that precluded him from serving as Special Counsel.1856

On the first call, McGahn recalled that the President said something like, “You gotta do this. You gotta call Rod.”1857 McGahn said he told the President that he would see what he could do.1858 McGahn was perturbed by the call and did not intend to act on the request.1859 He and other advisors believed the asserted conflicts were “silly” and “not real,” and they had previously communicated that view to the President.1860

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