Trump is now smearing his own White House counsel as a liar

Trump fired off an unhinged screed on Thursday morning in which he essentially accused his former White House counsel, Don McGahn, of lying under oath to special counsel Robert Mueller.

“As has been incorrectly reported by the Fake News Media, I never told then White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller, even though I had the legal right to do so,” Trump stated.

The “fake news” Trump has a problem with is directly from the Mueller report, and McGahn’s own testimony. Mueller’s report states that McGahn and others admitted that Trump tried — on more than one occasion — to get McGahn to fire Mueller. In June 2017, McGahn says Trump called him twice and told him that “Mueller has to go.”

McGahn, like many Trump aides, refused to follow Trump’s directive, and instead threatened to resign, telling a Trump aide that Trump asked him to do “crazy shit.”

In a subsequent tweet, Trump both attacked the Mueller report and once again falsely claimed that the report exonerates him.

Trump wrote: “Despite the fact that the Mueller Report was ‘composed’ by Trump Haters and Angry Democrats, who had unlimited funds and human resources, the end result was No Collusion, No Obstruction. Amazing!”

McGahn and others provided testimony to Mueller’s team under penalty of perjury. Trump, on the other hand, was too cowardly to ever sit down with Mueller under oath and give verbal testimony.

McGahn’s cooperation with Mueller’s team was reported as far back as August 2018. Reports at the time said McGahn was providing testimony about Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice, which were proved accurate when the redacted Mueller report was released.

Given that he is a key witness for Mueller, Congress is eager for McGahn to testify about Trump’s obstruction of justice activities. On Monday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), chair of the Judiciary Committee, issued a subpoena ordering McGahn to hand over relevant documents and testify before Congress in late May.

But Trump is scrambling to block McGahn, as well as all current and former White House staff, from testifying before Congress, even though Trump does not have the absolute right to do so. And Trump arguably waived executive privilege to keep his conversations with McGahn private when he let McGahn testify in the Mueller probe in the first place.

Trump seems to hope McGahn will protect him by refusing to cooperate with Congress. But suggesting McGahn is a liar who gave false testimony in the Mueller investigation is certainly an odd way of trying to get McGahn to protect Trump now. 

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.