Trump Lawyers’ Sudden Realization: They Don’t Know What Don McGahn Told Mueller’s Team
(NYT)
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 [Dowd and...that other knucklehead, I forget his name.] never asked for a complete description of what Mr. McGahn had said, according to a person close to the president.
Mr. McGahn’s lawyer, William A. Burck, gave the president’s lawyers a short overview of the interview but few details, and he did not inform them of what Mr. McGahn said in subsequent interactions with the investigators, according to a person close to Mr. Trump.
...Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer dealing with the special counsel, Rudolph W. Giuliani, appeared to acknowledge that he had only a partial understanding of what Mr. McGahn had revealed. Mr. Giuliani said his knowledge was secondhand, given to him by a former Trump lawyer, John Dowd,
who was one of the primary forces behind the initial strategy of full cooperation.
“I’ll use his words rather than mine, that McGahn was a strong witness for the president, so I don’t need to know much more about that,” Mr. Giuliani said of Mr. Dowd...
Oh yeah, that's fine. Giuliani knows better than that. He should go get a THOROUGH DEBRIEFING from McGahn NOW!
Legal experts and former White House counsels said the president’s lawyers had been careless in not asking Mr. McGahn what he had planned to tell Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors. The experts said Mr. Trump’s lawyers had the right to know the full extent of what Mr. McGahn was going to say.
The [Times] article set off a scramble on Saturday among Mr. Trump’s lawyers and advisers. The president, sequestered at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., solicited opinions from a small group of advisers on the possible repercussions from the article. The president ordered Mr. Giuliani to tell reporters that the article was wrong, but Mr. Giuliani did not go that far in his television appearances.
The report by The Times also reignited a debate about whether Mr. Trump had been given bad advice(1) by his former lawyers Mr. Dowd and Ty Cobb(2) to allow full cooperation with Mr. Mueller’s team, including by waiving attorney-client privilege. Mr. Dowd and Mr. Cobb believed that the cooperation would help prove that the president had done nothing wrong and bring a swifter end to the investigation.
(1) Maggie, Michael, you're "both sides-ing" it there, you know you are; admit it and I'll give you a pass on it this time. There is no DEBATE, that was terrible lawyering! Go ahead, find me the guy--or gal!--who is going to "debate" the other side. BRING IT! And you can't use Dowd or that other guy. What the fuck was his name?
(2) Ah yes, Ty Cobb, heretofore and hereinafter "the other knucklehead."
“It’s bad legal advice, bad lawyering, and this is a result of it,” [Chris] Christie added.
Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, who had argued last summer against cooperating with Mr. Mueller, said, “This was a reckless and dangerously naïve strategy, and I’ve vocally said that since the time I left the White House, and I’ve said it to the president.”
Although Mr. Trump’s lawyers have little idea what Mr. McGahn told investigators, they said on Saturday and Sunday that Mr. McGahn had helped the president.
As did knucklehead-in-chief, or tried to but got hung up on "English" and it didn't turn out too good, because he's a MO-RON.
In an email to members of Mr. Trump’s legal team and other associates, which was obtained by The Times,(3) Mr. Dowd said he had made the right choice in urging cooperation.
“We protected President by not asserting attorney-client privilege,” Mr. Dowd wrote.
"We protected President by not asserting..." Dowd, let me see your bar card.
(3) Maggie and Michael got Dowd's EMAIL! Ho-Ho-Ho. Wait a cotton pickin' minute. Maggie, Michael, you used Dowd in this "debate"! Naughty, naughty.
...Trump was rattled(4)by the Times report, according to people familiar with his thinking. The president, who is said to be obsessed with the role that John W. Dean, the White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon, (5)played as an informant during Watergate, was jolted by the notion that he did not know what Mr. McGahn had shared.(6)
(4) "Hey! Go get me some Imodium!"
(5) "Little fucking John Dean. He RUINED Nixon!"
(6) "It was quite a jolt, the notion that I'm a Dope."
Mr. Trump lashed out
about the report on Twitter, saying that The Times had falsely insinuated that Mr. McGahn had “turned” on him.
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 [Dowd and...that other knucklehead, I forget his name.] never asked for a complete description of what Mr. McGahn had said, according to a person close to the president.
Mr. McGahn’s lawyer, William A. Burck, gave the president’s lawyers a short overview of the interview but few details, and he did not inform them of what Mr. McGahn said in subsequent interactions with the investigators, according to a person close to Mr. Trump.
...Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer dealing with the special counsel, Rudolph W. Giuliani, appeared to acknowledge that he had only a partial understanding of what Mr. McGahn had revealed. Mr. Giuliani said his knowledge was secondhand, given to him by a former Trump lawyer, John Dowd,
Hi, I'm John Dowd. I look really intelligent.
who was one of the primary forces behind the initial strategy of full cooperation.
“I’ll use his words rather than mine, that McGahn was a strong witness for the president, so I don’t need to know much more about that,” Mr. Giuliani said of Mr. Dowd...
Oh yeah, that's fine. Giuliani knows better than that. He should go get a THOROUGH DEBRIEFING from McGahn NOW!
Legal experts and former White House counsels said the president’s lawyers had been careless in not asking Mr. McGahn what he had planned to tell Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors. The experts said Mr. Trump’s lawyers had the right to know the full extent of what Mr. McGahn was going to say.
The [Times] article set off a scramble on Saturday among Mr. Trump’s lawyers and advisers. The president, sequestered at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., solicited opinions from a small group of advisers on the possible repercussions from the article. The president ordered Mr. Giuliani to tell reporters that the article was wrong, but Mr. Giuliani did not go that far in his television appearances.
The report by The Times also reignited a debate about whether Mr. Trump had been given bad advice(1) by his former lawyers Mr. Dowd and Ty Cobb(2) to allow full cooperation with Mr. Mueller’s team, including by waiving attorney-client privilege. Mr. Dowd and Mr. Cobb believed that the cooperation would help prove that the president had done nothing wrong and bring a swifter end to the investigation.
(1) Maggie, Michael, you're "both sides-ing" it there, you know you are; admit it and I'll give you a pass on it this time. There is no DEBATE, that was terrible lawyering! Go ahead, find me the guy--or gal!--who is going to "debate" the other side. BRING IT! And you can't use Dowd or that other guy. What the fuck was his name?
(2) Ah yes, Ty Cobb, heretofore and hereinafter "the other knucklehead."
Hi. I'm The Other Knucklehead.
“It’s bad legal advice, bad lawyering, and this is a result of it,” [Chris] Christie added.
Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, who had argued last summer against cooperating with Mr. Mueller, said, “This was a reckless and dangerously naïve strategy, and I’ve vocally said that since the time I left the White House, and I’ve said it to the president.”
Although Mr. Trump’s lawyers have little idea what Mr. McGahn told investigators, they said on Saturday and Sunday that Mr. McGahn had helped the president.
As did knucklehead-in-chief, or tried to but got hung up on "English" and it didn't turn out too good, because he's a MO-RON.
In an email to members of Mr. Trump’s legal team and other associates, which was obtained by The Times,(3) Mr. Dowd said he had made the right choice in urging cooperation.
“We protected President by not asserting attorney-client privilege,” Mr. Dowd wrote.
"We protected President by not asserting..." Dowd, let me see your bar card.
(3) Maggie and Michael got Dowd's EMAIL! Ho-Ho-Ho. Wait a cotton pickin' minute. Maggie, Michael, you used Dowd in this "debate"! Naughty, naughty.
...Trump was rattled(4)by the Times report, according to people familiar with his thinking. The president, who is said to be obsessed with the role that John W. Dean, the White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon, (5)played as an informant during Watergate, was jolted by the notion that he did not know what Mr. McGahn had shared.(6)
(4) "Hey! Go get me some Imodium!"
(5) "Little fucking John Dean. He RUINED Nixon!"
(6) "It was quite a jolt, the notion that I'm a Dope."
Mr. Trump lashed out
about the report on Twitter, saying that The Times had falsely insinuated that Mr. McGahn had “turned” on him.