U.S. Department of Justice
Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)
before she was cleared—& they talk about obstruction?"[1] The next day, June 16, 2017, the President wrote additional tweets criticizing the investigation: "After 7 months of investigations & committee hearings about my 'collusion with the Russians,' nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!";[2] and "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.[3]
On Saturday, June 17, 2017, the President called McGahn and directed him to have the Special Counsel removed.[4] McGahn was at home and the President was at Camp David".[5] In interviews with this Office, McGahn recalled that the President called him at home twice and on both occasions directed him to call Rosenstein and say that Mueller had conflicts that precluded him from serving as Special Counsel.[6]
On the first call, McGahn recalled that the President said something like, "You gotta do this. You gotta call Rod."[7] McGahn said he told the President that he would see what he could do.[8] McGahn was perturbed by the call and did not intend to act on the request.[9] He and other advisors believed the asserted conflicts were "silly" and "not real," and they had previously communicated that view to the President.[10] McGahn also had made clear to the President that the White House Counsel's Office should not be involved in any effort to press the issue of conflicts.[11] McGahn was concerned about having any role in asking the Acting Attorney General to fire the Special Counsel because he had grown up in the Reagan era and wanted to be more like Judge
- ↑ @realDonaldTrump 6/15/17 (3:56 p.m. ET) Tweet.
- ↑ @realDonaldTrump 6/16/17 (7:53 a.m. ET) Tweet.
- ↑ @realDonaldTrump 6/16/17 (9:07 a.m. ET) Tweet.
- ↑ McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1-2; McGahn 12/14/17 302, at 10.
- ↑ MeGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1, 3; SCRO26 000196 (President's Daily Diary, 6/17/17) (records showing President departed the White House at 11:07 a.m. on June 17, 2017, and arrived at Camp David at 11:37 a.m.).
- ↑ McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1-2; McGahn 12/14/17 302, at 10. Phone records show that the President called McGahn in the afternoon on June 17, 2017, and they spoke for approximately 23 minutes. SCR026 000196 (President's Daily Diary, 6/17/17) (reflecting call from the President to McGahn on 6/17/17 with start time 2:23 p.m. and end time 2:46 p.m.); (Call Records of Don McGahn). Phone records do not show another call between McGahn and the President that day. Although McGahn recalled receiving multiple calls from the President on the same day, in light of the phone records he thought it was possible that the first call instead occurred on June 14, 2017, shortly after the press reported that the President was under investigation for obstruction of justice. McGahn 2/28/19 302, at 1-3. While McGahn was not certain of the specific dates of the calls, McGahn was confident that he had at least two phone conversations with the President in which the President directed him to call the Acting Attorney General to have the Special Counsel removed. McGahn 2/28/19 302, at 1-3.
- ↑ McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1.
- ↑ McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1.
- ↑ McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1.
- ↑ McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1-2.
- ↑ McGahn 3/8/18 302, at 1-2.
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