Fear: Trump in the White House(57)
Worse, Trump said, he had interviewed Mueller just the day before to come back as FBI director and he had turned him down. Now Mueller was suddenly in charge. “So two times I’m fucking bushwhacked by the Department of Justice.”
Third, Trump said that after he fired Comey, the former FBI director had gone on a testifying and leaking crusade to state that Trump asked him to drop the Flynn investigation. “I didn’t do anything,” Trump told Dowd. “It’s all bullshit. Comey’s a fucking liar.”
Kasowitz concurred that he and one of his partners had investigated to see if there was anything that connected Trump to the Russian meddling. After a full month their initial conclusion was there was nothing.
The way Trump rattled off the denials suggested to Dowd that his outrage was genuine. Of course, that did not mean he was innocent. In addition to blaming Comey, Trump said he did it to himself by not having strong people and lawyers.
Dowd examined the one-page Rosenstein order appointing Mueller May 17. Not only did it authorize a Russian investigation but it directed Mueller to investigate “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the [Russian] investigation.” Dowd had never seen anyone in Justice with such broad authority.
The president expressed his distrust. A lot of Democrats were on Mueller’s team of prosecutors.
Dowd agreed there might be a political motive. “This is a royal fuck job by a bunch of losers,” he told Trump.
Dowd’s theory of defending a client is to be his advocate, and also to be a friend. Trump began calling him at all hours, all days. Despite Trump’s outgoing, in-your-face style, Dowd could see the president was very lonely.
Dowd discussed the known facts with Trump’s legal advisers and reviewed the material for possible vulnerabilities. Based on a preliminary review of the known evidence, he did not see anything to support a charge of collusion with the Russians or obstruction of justice.
Perhaps the most troubling pieces of evidence were former FBI director James Comey’s memo and testimony that Trump had appealed to him to go easy on General Flynn after Flynn’s firing. According to Comey, Trump had said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” Comey said he believed Trump was asking him to drop the investigation.
Trump denied he had said that or anything like it.
What did you say? Dowd asked the president.
“Well, I didn’t say that.” Trump said Comey had raised the prospect of Trump coming to FBI headquarters to talk to the agents. “And so I was asking him when he wanted me to do that. And he said he would get back to me. But I never commented on Flynn. I mean, as far as I was concerned, Flynn was over.”
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Dowd continued his own inquiry, being briefed on the testimony of all known witnesses and reviewing documents.
He wanted to establish a relationship with Mueller, whom he knew. Years ago at a Marine Corps parade, Dowd had run into Mueller when he was FBI director.
“What are you up to?” Mueller asked.
“I’m representing Congressman Don Young.”
“That crook?” Mueller replied. “How could you do that?”
“That’s our system,” answered Dowd, who was offended that the FBI director would speak that way. Young was never charged, though the House Ethics Committee later rebuked him. Young soon became the longest-serving member of Congress.
While Mueller had not yet made a specific request for documents, one would likely be coming soon. White House Counsel Don McGahn did not want to turn over much of anything. He wanted the president to assert privileges, such as executive privilege.
Dowd disagreed with McGahn. If there was nothing to hide, Trump’s cooperation could help the prosecutor perhaps see it his way. He recommended to Trump that “we’d get a hell of a lot more with honey than we would with vinegar.”
“I have friends who tell me we ought to tell them to go fuck themselves,” the president said in one call. “I don’t trust these guys.” Dowd argued that cooperation would speed up the resolution and Trump eventually approved the honey-over-vinegar approach.
Dowd recommended hiring Ty Cobb, an experienced Washington lawyer known for his white handlebar mustache (Dowd called him “Colonel Sanders” after the Kentucky Fried Chicken icon) as special counsel on the White House staff. Cobb would be in charge of the delivery of documents to Mueller and his team. Dowd couldn’t do this because he was Trump’s personal lawyer, and the documents were White House documents. Cobb was really brought in to override McGahn’s advice to fight document requests.
Dowd emphasized to the president, “I want to build a relationship where we engage [Mueller] and then there are no secrets. And that can be done.”
Dowd went to his first meeting with Mueller and his chief deputy, James “Jim” Quarles, a veteran of the Watergate special prosecutor’s office 40 years earlier, at the special counsel’s office on June 16 at 1 p.m.
“We’re not waiving objections to your appointment,” Dowd said, “and how the hell you got here.” Rosenstein’s order was too broad and no one in the Justice Department had the authority to investigate any matter they stumbled on. “That order will not stand. But we are not going to throw rocks.”
Mueller did not respond. He was a master of silence.