President Donald Trump has said he has "nothing to hide" following the news that White House counsel Donald McGahn has cooperated "extensively" with the Mueller inquiry, which is investigating the possibility of obstruction of justice and Russian influence in U.S. politics.
In Twitter posts on Sunday, Trump lashed out at The New York Times, which released a detailed report this weekend revealing that McGahn had clocked around 30 hours of voluntary interviews with investigators over the past nine months. The article suggested that McGahn—like former Nixon-era counsel John Dean—could be set up to "take the fall" for bad legal decisions.
McGahn, The Times said, was increasingly concerned that Trump may attempt to shift the blame for some of his controversial decisions to him. He reportedly provided Mueller's team with a "sense of the president's mind-set in the days leading to the firing" of [former FBI director] James Comey. But it remains unclear if investigators questioned McGahn about Russian meddling.
Trump stated: "The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel (sic) Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel (sic), he must be a John Dean type "RAT." But I allowed him and all others to testify - I didn't have to.
"I have nothing to hide and have demanded transparency so that this Rigged and Disgusting Witch Hunt can come to a close. So many lives have been ruined over nothing - McCarthyism at its WORST! Yet Mueller & his gang of Dems refuse to look at the real crimes on the other side."
In an update shortly after, the president shifted blame onto his own political opponents.
"No Collusion and No Obstruction, except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats" he noted. "All of the resignations and corruption, yet heavily conflicted Bob Mueller refuses to even look in that direction. What about the Brennan, Comey, McCabe, Strzok lies to Congress, or Crooked's Emails!"
In a statement to The Times, the White House attempted to downplay any conflict between the president and the White House counsel. "The president and Don have a great relationship," press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a short statement. "He appreciates all the hard work he's done, particularly his help and expertise with the judges, and the Supreme Court."
Yesterday, Trump tweeted to stress that he had given permission for McGahn to testify.
"I allowed White House Counsel Don McGahn, and all other requested members of the White House Staff, to fully cooperate with the Special Counsel," he wrote. "In addition we readily gave over one million pages of documents. Most transparent in history.
"No Collusion, No Obstruction. Witch Hunt!"
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jason Murdock is a staff reporter for Newsweek.
Based in London, Murdock previously covered cybersecurity for the International Business Times UK ... Read more
