McGahn and Trump play word games

By Jennifer Rubin
Opinion writer
August 21 at 11:45 AM

The Post reports on White House counsel Donald McGahn’s 30 hours of interviews with the special counsel:

McGahn’s attorney, Bill Burck, told Trump’s lawyers this past weekend that McGahn did not assert that Trump engaged in any wrongdoing when he spoke to Mueller’s investigators in three lengthy interviews since last November, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

“He did not incriminate him,” Burck wrote in one email, which was described by multiple people.

This means exactly nothing. Of course, McGahn did not stand up and declare, “J’accuse!” That’s not what witnesses do. In 30 hours, however, he almost certainly described statements Donald Trump made in McGahn’s presence, the president’s state of mind, critical meetings in which former FBI director James B. Comey was discussed, Trump’s purported orders to McGahn to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and more. In other words, in all likelihood, McGahn provided information that Mueller could use for the basis of an obstruction charge.

McGahn (and Burck) obviously don’t want to provoke Trump to fire McGahn (as Richard Nixon did when John Dean cooperated with Watergate investigators). Unless they can effectively hoodwink Trump into believing that McGahn systematically lied to protect Trump, Trump will figure out he can no longer trust McGahn. When that happens, I suspect McGahn’s time in the White House will come to an end.

Meanwhile, Trump declares in an interview with Reuters that he could take over the Russia investigation. “I can go in, and I could do whatever — I could run it if I want. But I decided to stay out,” he said. “I’m totally allowed to be involved if I wanted to be. So far, I haven’t chosen to be involved. I’ll stay out.” This is bonkers. Trump cannot interview himself or investigate himself, his son, his son-in-law and his cronies for various crimes.

However laughable is Trump’s total constitutional ignorance (and narcissism!), his assertion damages his defense against an obstruction of justice claim. Trump, as he has done dozens of other times, is finding as many ways as possible to convey his “corrupt intent” — that is, his attempt to interfere with an objective, lawful criminal investigation. He publicly bullies Attorney General Jeff Sessions about his recusal decision; he tweets phony conspiracy theories to divert investigators’ attention; he tries to intimidate Comey, a witness to possible wrongdoing, by suggesting there are tapes and that Comey has liability for leaking documents; and he misrepresents the contents of the warrant application for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Not only can we see that these missives contain lies and misrepresentations of facts, but they are also the most reliable indicator, short of Trump testifying under oath, as to the president’s state of mind.

In sum, Trump from the get-go has wanted to stop or at least to discredit an investigation into possible wrongdoing by him and/or his inner circle. His wish to run the investigation himself only confirms his desperation to control the investigation — with either him in charge or by installing Sessions to suppress or kill the inquiry. Each time he rails about the investigation and threatens the investigators he provides more ammunition for an obstruction charge. It’s not the interview he should fear; rather it is own compulsive tweeting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/08/21/mcgahn-and-trump-play-word-games/?utm_term=.7d6d704b3c21