In their final face-to-face Oval Office meeting, President Donald Trump took the opportunity to blame outgoing White House counsel Don McGahn for special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment, which happened on McGahn’s watch.
According to a Wednesday CNN report, the President also mixed in some praise during their stilted final conversation.
Their relationship had reportedly been deteriorating for months, with Trump failing to warn McGahn before announcing his departure and replacement, Pat Cipollone, publicly.
“Typically you would have the incumbent stay until the successor was ready to take his place,” an unnamed source told CNN. “But in this case, McGahn was tired of the President and the President was tired of McGahn.”
Trump also reportedly holds McGahn partially responsible for Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Mueller probe, an act that has aroused Trump’s sustained ire for years.