Trump Confirms WH Counsel’s Talks With Mueller, Says He’s No ‘John Dean Type RAT’

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 9: Don McGahn, White House Counsel to President-elect Donald Trump, arrives at Trump Tower, January 9, 2017 in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are in the pro... NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 9: Don McGahn, White House Counsel to President-elect Donald Trump, arrives at Trump Tower, January 9, 2017 in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are in the process of filling cabinet and other high level positions for the new administration. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump tweeted at length on Saturday and Sunday in response to a New York Times report that White House counsel Don McGahn had cooperated “extensively” with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, sitting for at least 30 hours of discussions over three voluntary interviews.

Trump appeared to object to the Times’ reporting that he may not know the true extent of McGahn’s cooperation, and to the Times’ reporting that McGahn “told people he was determined to avoid the fate of the White House counsel for President Richard M. Nixon, John W. Dean, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate scandal.”

The President also compared Mueller to Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI), a strange analysis, given that Trump and McCarthy shared a lawyer, Roy Cohn, and given that, unlike McCarthy, Mueller has made almost no public statements about his work outside of court.

Latest News
160
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Knowing what an incurious pant-load Trump is, it’s highly likely he doesn’t realize that White House counsel is NOT his personal attorney. Would love to see his orange mug contort when this finally sinks in.

  2. Well, he seems even keeled and fully in control of his faculties…

  3. "…he must be a John Dean type “RAT.”

    In Trump’s mind, G. Gordon Liddy was the real hero of Watergate.

  4. After all this time, I still haven’t seen anything in Hair Furor’s tweets that suggests he understands the true purpose of the White House Counsel. Sheesh!

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

154 more replies

Participants

Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for ghost Avatar for matthew1961 Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for bobatkinson Avatar for adabsurdum Avatar for cervantes Avatar for losamigos Avatar for zoester Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for tecmage Avatar for lastroth Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for tena Avatar for susanintheoc Avatar for tpr Avatar for spin Avatar for grack Avatar for centralasiaexpat Avatar for moderately Avatar for justruss Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for captain_america

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: