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WASHINGTON – As president, Trump met with councilors in the Oval Office in May 2017 to discuss alternatives for the F.B.I. Director whom he had just dismissed, Attorney General Jeff Sessions escaped from the room to take a call.
Upon his return, he announced bad news to Mr Trump: Robert S. Mueller III had just been appointed Special Adviser to investigate the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the any action taken by the President to obstruct it.
Mr. Trump sank in his chair. "Oh, my God," he said. "It's terrible, it's the end of my presidency, I'm screwed up."
This is not the end of his presidency, but he has come to consume it. Although the two-year investigation ended without accusations against Mr. Trump, Mr. Mueller's report painted a damning picture of a White House dominated by a president wanting to thwart the investigation, but did not can only be retained by equally desperate collaborators.
The White House, which is more than 400 pages long from Mr. Mueller's report, is a hotbed of conflict infused with a culture of dishonesty – defined by a president who lies to the public and his staff, and then tries to make his associates lie to him. Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened to dismiss lieutenants who did not comply with his wishes, while they repeatedly threatened to resign rather than crossing property or law lines.
Moments later, Mr. Trump aggravated his troubles by giving in to anger and grievances and decrying so as to turn counselors into witnesses into prosecution witnesses. The report makes it clear that he was spared a charge of obstructing justice, in part because his aides understood the danger and prevented him from following his own instinct. Based on notes, emails, texts and F.B.I contemporary interviews, the report draws, scene after scene, a White House on the edge of the abyss.
Reince Priebus, then chief of staff at the White House, said at one point that the president's attacks on his own attorney general meant that he had "D.O.J. at the throat. On another occasion, White House Council Donald F. McGahn II complained to Mr. Priebus that the President was trying to convince him to "bullshit". Mr. Trump was also unhappy with Mr. McGahn, calling him a "lying bastard."
"We will take care of you"
From the beginning, Trump's presidency has been trying to contain the threat stemming from Russia's interference in the 2016 elections and suspicions about his team's contacts with Moscow.
Just weeks after taking office, Trump fired his national security advisor, Michael T. Flynn, who lied to the FBI. of his conversations with the Russian ambassador.
But Mr. Trump hugged Mr. Flynn and said, "We'll make a good recommendation. You are a good guy. We will take care of you. "
Mr. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have falsely assumed that getting rid of Mr. Flynn would derail the investigation then led by James B. Comey, FBI. director. During lunch with Chris Christie, then Governor of New Jersey, Mr. Flynn called and Mr. Kushner spoke with him.
"The president cares about you," Kushner told Flynn. "I'll ask the president to send you a positive tweet later."
Mr. Trump was also worried about Mr. Comey. During lunch, he asked Mr. Christie to call Mr. Comey, a friend. "Tell him he's part of the team," Trump said.
Mr Christie felt that the President's request was "absurd" and had never been successful.
Other advisers were concerned that Mr. Trump was not telling the truth to the public. After a press conference during which he denied any business relationship in Russia, Michael D. Cohen, the president's personal attorney who was trying to set up a Trump tower in Moscow, expressed concern.
Mr. Trump said the project has not been finalized yet. "Why talk about it if it's not an agreement?" He said.
"You left me on an island"
With the investigation continuing, Mr. Trump wanted to ensure that Mr. Sessions remained in charge of the Department of Justice and he asked Mr. McGahn to tell the Attorney General not to recuse himself because of his work in the Trump campaign. Mr. McGahn tried to avoid a challenge by calling the Attorney General three times, but Mr. Sessions announced his challenge this afternoon.
Mr. Trump was furious. Summoning Mr. McGahn to the Oval Office the next day, he replied, "I do not have a lawyer" and added that he wished Roy Cohn, the famous bare-legged lawyer who once worked for him in New York, always be his lawyer. Mr. Trump said that Robert F. Kennedy was protecting John F. Kennedy and that Eric H. Holder Jr. was protecting Barack Obama.
"Are you telling me Bobby and Jack did not talk about investigations?" Asked he. "Or Obama did not tell Eric Holder who to investigate?"
Mr. Trump shouted to Mr. McGahn how Mr. Sessions was weak and Stephen K. Bannon, then chief strategist of the president, thought he was as enraged as ever.
The president asked Admiral Michael S. Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, if he could do anything to refute the news on the issue of Russia. Admiral Richard Ledgett, who was present at the call, said it was the most unusual experience of his 40 years of government and prepared a note describing the appeal he and Admiral Rogers had signed and put in a safe.
Trump repeatedly lamented the investigation of Russia with intelligence chiefs. At one point, Admiral Rogers recalled a private conversation in which the president said that "the situation in Russia should disappear." But intelligence officials said they did not feel obliged to take specific action.
Mr. Trump focused more and more on Mr. Comey, who during the A testimony on Capitol Hill, May 3, 2017, declined to answer questions to determine whether the president himself was the subject of an investigation.
Angry, Mr. Trump drove on Mr. Sessions. "It's terrible, Jeff," he says. "All because you have rejected." He added, "You left me on an island, I can not do anything."
Mr. Sessions stated that he had no choice, but that a new start for the F.B.I. would be appropriate and the Chair should consider replacing Mr. Comey.
Mr. Trump was obsessed with the F.B.I. director. Mr Bannon recalled that he had mentioned Mr Comey at least eight times on 3 and 4 May. "He told me three times that I was not being investigated," said the president. "It's a showboater. It's a bigstand. I do not know any Russians. There was no collusion.
Mr. Bannon told Mr. Trump that he could not dismiss Mr. Comey because "this ship had sailed" and that this would not end the investigation.
& # 39; The beginning of the end? & # 39;
The helpers were alarmed. "This is the beginning of the end?" Wrote Annie Donaldson, Chief of Staff to Mr. McGahn.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then the president's press secretary, told reporters that the White House had spoken to "countless FBI members" who had supported the decision to fire the director – but she later confessed to the investigators that it was not true. Her comment, she said, was "a slip of the tongue" made "in the heat of the moment" and not based on anything.
The dismissal of Mr. Comey led Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to appoint Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, to take charge of the investigation. Fearing that this would mean the end of his presidency, Trump again criticized Mr. Sessions.
"How did you let that happen, Jeff?" Asked he. He told Mr. Sessions, "You were supposed to protect me," or words to that effect.
"Everyone tells me that if you get one of these independent councils, it ruins your presidency," he added. "It takes years and years and I can not do anything. It's the worst thing that has happened to me. "
Mr. Trump has asked his Attorney General to resign. Mr. Sessions said that he would do it and he returned to the Oval Office the next day with a resignation letter that he handed to Mr. Trump.
The President put the letter in his pocket and repeatedly asked Mr. Sessions to continue to serve as Attorney General. When Mr. Sessions finally said that he was doing it, the president said that he wanted him to stay. The two shook hands, but Mr. Trump kept the letter.
Priebus and Bannon, when they learned the existence of the letter, feared that, if he kept it, Mr. Trump could use it to improperly influence Mr. Sessions; that would, said Mr. Priebus, a "snare neck" now the Attorney General on a leash.
The next day, May 19, Mr. Trump left the White House for the Middle East. Three days later, three days later, on the occasion of Saudi Arabia's flight to Israel, the president took the letter out of his pocket and showed it to his aides. Later on during the trip, when Mr. Priebus asked the letter to Mr. Trump, the President stated that he did not have it and that she was in fact returning to the House. -Blanche.
Three days after his return to Washington, the president finally returned the letter to Mr. Sessions with a note: "Not accepted."
But he did not stop trying to regain control of the investigation, calling Mr. Sessions home to ask him if he would "give up" and order the department of Justice to initiate proceedings against Ms. Clinton. Mr. Sessions refused.
"Mueller must leave"
If the Attorney General did not detain the special advocate, Mr. Trump resolved to find someone who would do it. On June 17, Mr. Trump called Mr. McGahn from Camp David and ordered him to have Mr. Rosenstein returned to Mr. Mueller because of conflicts of interest.
During a 23-minute conversation, Mr. Trump said something like, "You have to do that. You have to call Rod. "Mr. McGahn, who, along with other councilors, felt that the alleged conflicts were "stupid" and "not real," was disrupted by the call.
The president then called again. "Mueller has to leave," he told McGahn. "Call me back when you do it."
Mr. McGahn decided to resign, determined not to repeat the experience of Robert H. Bork, who had complied with the order of President Richard M. Nixon to dismiss the Watergate Attorney during the Saturday night massacre before becoming a judge at the court of appeal.
Mr. McGahn, stating that he wanted to be more like Judge Bork and not the "Saturday Night Massacre Bork", went to the office to pack his bags and resign. When Mr. McGahn informed Mr. Priebus and Mr. Bannon, they urged him not to resign and he backed down.
Undeterred, Mr. Trump summoned his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, to the White House two days later and dictated a message to Mr. Sessions, which would have effectively limited the scope of the campaign. investigation into the interference of Russia in the 2016 election.
In the message, Mr. Trump ordered Mr. Sessions to make a speech stating that Mr. Trump was "treated very unfairly" by the investigation.
"He should not have a special attorney / lawyer because he has done nothing wrong," Sessions said. "I was campaigning with him for nine months, no Russian was involved with him. I know it because I was there. He did nothing wrong except that he led the biggest campaign in American history. "
The meeting was interrupted by a scheduling conflict, but Mr. Trump again spoke a month later, saying that if Mr. Sessions did not meet, Mr. Lewandowski should tell him that He had been dismissed. Mr. Lewandowski assured him that the message would be delivered.
A few hours later, the president criticized the Attorney General in an interview with the New York Times. Although the meeting with Mr. Lewandowski never took place, Mr. Sessions understood his tenuous position and carried a letter of resignation in his pocket every time he went to the White House.
"Boss Man Worried"
At the end of June, presidential advisers and lawyers were briefed on the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians during Donald Trump Jr.'s campaign, together with Mr. Kushner and Paul Manafort , president of the campaign. But the president said that he did not want to hear about it.
A few days later, in Mr. Kushner's attorney's office, Hope Hicks, the president's communications advisor, received emails regarding the setting up of the meeting and the offer of "dirt" to Mrs. Clinton on behalf of the Russian government. At a meeting, Mr Kushner played down the meeting with the Russians, telling the president that it was about adoption.
Ms. Hicks suggested that Donald Trump Jr. publish the emails as part of an interview with "softball issues". She warned that the emails were "really bad" and that the story would be "massive" when she burst. but the president again said that he did not want to hear about it.
On July 7, when the president was at the G-20 summit in Germany, Hicks learned that The Times was preparing an article about the Trump Tower meeting. Ms. Hicks, on the return flight from Germany, recommended to disclose the entire story, but the president rejected it saying that a draft statement was saying too much.
Instead, Mr. Trump suggested that the statement indicates that his eldest son had attended a meeting on Russian adoptions.
Ms. Hicks then texted Donald Trump Jr. to ask if all was well. The president's son made it clear that they had "mainly" discussed the adoption by Russia because, as he had addressed to Mrs. Hicks, they "started with a story of Hillary who was bs and other nonsense that we quickly eliminated ".
Ms. Hicks responded, "I think that is true too, but the official was concerned that it would raise a lot of questions." The young Mr. Trump, who urged him to publish the emails himself 39 finally did when the White House learned that the Times was about to publish them.
"I'll have to get rid of him"
Trump continued to press Mr. Sessions to regain control of the investigation. On October 16, the President met privately with Mr. Sessions and told him that he should re-examine Ms. Clinton's emails. Mr. Sessions made no promise.
Two days later, the president released the first of several tweets in the coming weeks, complaining that the Justice Department was not investigating Ms. Clinton. One of the tweets concluded: "Do something!"
Pressure on the president increased in November when Flynn's lawyers told Mr. Trump's team that he would agree to a plea deal. One of Mr. Trump's lawyers left a voice message to one of Mr. Flynn's lawyers:[R]Remember what we've always said about the President and his feelings for Flynn and it's still there. "
On December 6, five days after Mr. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying about contacts with the Russian government, Mr. Trump put Mr. Sessions aside after a cabinet meeting and again suggested that he should not be allowed to speak. he "abandoned" himself. "You would be a hero," he said, while saying that he was not going to "ask you to do anything."
In January 2018, the Times reported on the president's efforts in June 2017 to fire Mr. Mueller. Mr. Trump, a livid, asked Mr. McGahn to publicly refute the story, but he did not do so because the article faithfully reflected the wishes of the president.
Mr. Trump insisted that Mr. McGahn deny it. "If he does not write a letter, I may have to get rid of it," said the president, or something of the sort.
John F. Kelly, who had replaced Priebus as chief of staff, then organized a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. McGahn.
"I never said to fire Mueller," said Trump. "I never said" fire ". This story does not look good. You must correct this. You are the White House lawyer.
"Did I say the word" fire "?" Asked he.
"What you said is," Call Rod, let him know that Mueller is in conflict and can not be the special counsel, "said Mr. McGahn, who refused the president's request for him. make a correction ".
Mr Trump then complained to Mr McGahn to write things down. "Why are you taking notes? Lawyers do not take notes. I have never had a lawyer taking notes.
Mr. McGahn maintained that he had taken notes because he was a "real advocate" and that they were creating a record.
"I've had a lot of excellent lawyers, like Roy Cohn," Mr. Trump said. "He did not take notes."
But Mr McGahn did it. And many others did the same.
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