White House counsel has central role in controversies as he seeks to 'mollify and protect' Trump
President Donald Trump/Shutterstock.com.
White House counsel Don McGahn is again at the center of controversy amid revelations that he was told of domestic abuse allegations against Rob Porter, even as the now-former White House staff secretary was allowed to stay on the job.
McGahn is increasingly isolated as he walks a fine line as he seeks to “mollify and protect” President Donald Trump, the Washington Post reports.
McGahn has sometimes opposed Trump, reportedly refusing to ask the Justice Department to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, sources have told the New York Times and the Washington Post. In two other instances, his Justice Department requests have gone unheeded, according to the Post’s sources.
In one instance, McGahn reportedly called a senior DOJ official at Trump’s request to try to get him to persuade then-FBI director James Comey to announce that the president was not being investigated in the probe of Russian influence in the 2016 election. In the other, McGahn tried to persuade Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself in the Russia probe.
One anonymous source said that McGahn and Trump had “spectacular” fights in the months after Trump took office. McGahn had cautioned Trump not to contact Justice Department officials on his own, and McGahn was worried that Trump was doing so anyway, without his knowledge.
The relationship between McGahn and Trump is “complicated,” according to an anonymous source who spoke with the Post. “I don’t think Trump dislikes him,” the source said. “But the big problem between them is that Trump has always seen lawyers as facilitators for him. He doesn’t see lawyers as people who say no to him.”
McGahn is also a witness in the special counsel’s probe. According to the Post, then-acting attorney general Sally Yates told McGahn that Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, had misled the White House about his communications with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. McGahn conducted his own review and concluded that Flynn had done nothing illegal, the White House has said. Flynn was fired for lying to the FBI 18 days after Yates’ warning.
Sources told the Post that McGahn’s office reconstructed what happened during that timeframe, and the document has been turned over to Mueller.
