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Robert Costa
National political reporter covering the White House, Congress and Campaigns
At the time when President Trump learned, two years ago, that a special council had been appointed to investigate the Russian interference in the elections, he told the Oval Office: "C & # 39; is the end of my presidency. "
Trump almost did this as a self-fulfilling prophecy while he was plotting for months to thwart the investigation, creating a culture of corruption and deception in the White House.
Trump's advisers rarely challenged him and often did his best to meet his expectations, according to the report of the special advocate released Thursday. But in some cases, they refused when Trump pushed them to the brink of crime.
Trump ordered Donald McGahn to urge the special counsel of lawyer Robert S. Mueller III to be fired, but the White House lawyer ruled that he would resign rather than respond to his decision.
Trump urged Corey Lewandowski to ask Jeff Sessions, then Attorney General, to stop the investigation, but his former campaign manager only forwarded the message to an intermediary.
And Trump asked Reince Priebus to resign from Sessions, but the White House chief of staff did not implement the directive.
[Mueller report lays out obstruction evidence against the president]
The startling report that emerges from Mueller's 448-page report is that of a paranoid presidency, insecurity and conspiracy – and a narrow circle gripped by fear of Trump's spasms. Again and again, Trump has been pressuring his collaborators to lie to the public, deny true stories and fabricate a fake record.
"If we had confidence, after a thorough investigation of the facts, that the president clearly had not obstructed justice, we would say," the report said. "On the basis of the facts and applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment."
On April 18, 2019, President Trump observes the event during the Wounded Warrior Project soldier's tour in the East Room of the White House. (Oliver Contreras / For the Washington Post)
[The 10 areas where Mueller investigated Trump for obstruction]
The political impact remains uncertain. Republicans were eager to turn the page on Thursday, echoing Trump's and Attorney General William P. Barr's refrain: "No collusion." But Democratic leaders insisted that Trump's conduct was an impediment to justice and required further investigation, including asking Mueller to testify. before the congress.
Whatever the case may be, the Mueller Report has revealed how a fueling president has created an atmosphere of chaos, dishonesty and malfeasance at the highest levels of government, unprecedented since the Nixon government.
Trump officials have often been dragged into the president's plans to create fake stories. In one case, while he was watching Fox News, Trump asked Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to hold a press conference and claimed that he had sacked James B. Comey as director. FBI on the recommendation of Rosenstein. Rosenstein declined the invitation and told Trump that he would tell the truth – that firing him was not his idea – if he asked him.
The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has tried to substantiate Trump's cover story. During a press briefing, she said that countless FBI members were looking to send Comey back, but she later confessed to Mueller's team that her comment was fabricated, calling it a "piece of language "which was not based on evidence.
In another example, Trump dictated to Director of Communications Hope Hicks a deliberately misleading statement to the media about Donald Trump Jr.'s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower.
[Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer]
President Trump's drubbing to end the investigation was motivated by his belief that the decisive determination of the US intelligence sector regarding Russian interference threatened the legitimacy of his election. It was, as Hicks told Mueller's investigators, his "Achilles heel."
The White House's communications director, Hope Hicks, leaves the US Capitol after meeting with the House Intelligence Committee on February 27, 2018. (Leah Millis / Reuters)
The report exhaustively documents the tense relationship between Trump and McGahn. In the weeks following Mueller's appointment in May 2017, Trump repeatedly considered referring the special advocate. On June 17, Trump was at Camp David and twice called McGahn home and ordered him to call Rosenstein, who oversaw the investigation and explained that Mueller had conflicts with him. interests and could not serve.
"You have to do that. You have to call Rod, "Trump said in the first call, according to McGahn's account given to the investigators.
McGahn does not act on the request, but Trump called a second time.
"Call Rod, inform him that Mueller has conflict and can not be the special counsel," Trump said, according to McGahn. The president told him, "Mueller has to leave" and "call me back when you do it".
McGahn told investigators that he felt trapped and decided to resign. He went to the office to put his stuff and prepare to submit a letter of resignation. He also called Priebus and White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon to inform them of his intentions, but they urged him to stay and McGahn returned to work that Monday.
Trump's claim that Mueller had "conflicts" – a dispute over membership fees at a Trump golf course in Virginia – was labeled "ridiculous" by Bannon and "dumb" by McGahn. The report is peppered with similar periods of wizards grumbling behind Trump's back about his tirades and his impulsive directives.
Seven months later, after the New York Times announced that Trump had ordered McGahn to fire Mueller and McGahn refused, he asked the White House lawyer to refuse him – but McGahn had said that he would not rebut the article.
The president was furious. Staff secretary Rob Porter told investigators that Trump had told him that the story was "bullshit" and that McGahn was "a liar bastard". Trump ordered Porter to ask McGahn to create a recording stating that the president had never ordered the White House lawyer to sack Mueller. .
"If he does not write a letter, I may have to get rid of him," Porter recalls.
The outgoing White House lawyer, Donald McGahn, walks near the West Wing on August 30, 2018. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)
The next day, Trump met McGahn to discuss the article. The president insisted that he had never told McGahn to "fire" Mueller, but McGahn said he had told him, "Mueller must leave". Trump then harangued McGahn for the record of their discussions.
"Why are you taking notes? Lawyers do not take notes. I never had a lawyer take notes, "McGahn told Trump, according to McGahn's story to the investigators.
McGahn responded that he was a "real advocate".
"I've had a lot of excellent lawyers, like Roy Cohn. He did not take any notes, "Trump replied, referring to a former lawyer and mentor who was struck off for unfair conduct.
[[[[Balz: Mueller's report paints overwhelming portrait of Trump presidency]
In the meantime, as Trump's misery over Sessions began in the summer of 2017, he tried several times to pressure the Attorney General to waive his mandate or limit the scope of the investigation.
Between bursts of angry tweets on the June sessions, he tells Lewandowski that he had a mission for him.
"Write this," Trump told his former campaign manager, described in the report by Trump officials as a "devotee" who would do almost anything for the president.
Trump asked Lewandowski to discreetly approach the sessions, away from the usual chain of command, and to suggest that the president would prefer that the Justice Department investigate only foreign interference in "future elections" – and to end his investigation of the 2016 campaign.
Lewandowski never delivered this message directly, which shows his uneasiness with the president's request. Instead, he turned to Rick Dearborn, a former Sessions assistant, who was then working as the White House's deputy chief of staff, to convey the message to the Attorney General. Dearborn also refused to do so, later explaining to the investigators that the idea of being a messenger for the sessions made him feel uncomfortable.
Trump has tried other methods to delete sessions. In early July 2017, he asked Porter if Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand was part of the team, and asked him to take over responsibility for the probe. Mueller and become Attorney General. Porter told the investigators that he understood that Trump wanted to find someone to terminate the investigation and had not contacted him because he was uncomfortable with this task.
President Trump asked White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to seek the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but failed to implement the directive. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)
That same month, after the Washington Post announced that US intelligence interceptions had revealed that Sessions had discussed Trump's campaign issues with the Russian ambassador, Trump had broken out and demanded the resignation of the Attorney General.
Trump told Priebus that he needed "a letter of resignation on [his] office immediately, "according to the report that Priebus gave investigators.He said that the Attorney General had" no choice "and" must immediately resign ".
Trump said the sessions had to resign due to negative publicity, but Priebus told investigators that he thought the president had been driven because of his hatred against the recusal of Sessions at the end of the investigation conducted by Russia. Priebus consulted McGahn and discussed the possibility that they would resign instead of executing Trump's order to dismiss sessions, according to Mueller's testimony.
The president continued, "Have you had it?" He asked Priebus. "Are you working on it?"
Priebus explained that the dismissal sessions would be a calamity, and Trump agreed to hold on and eventually gave in, although he had tweeted over the next few days about the Attorney General, including the following. calling "besieged".
McGahn, Priebus and Porter have all left the administration. The sessions remained in office until November 2018, but her experience reflected the torment caused by Trump.
The Chief of Staff of the Attorney General told investigators that after the president tried to oust him in July 2017, Sessions had a resignation letter in his pocket every time he went to court. went to the White House.
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