White House counsel will leave the position after Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, Trump tweets
Don McGahn/The Federalist Society via Wikimedia Commons.
President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that White House counsel Don McGahn is leaving his job this fall.
Trump wrote that McGahn will leave “shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.” USA Today, the Washington Post, Politico, the New York Times and BuzzFeed News covered the news, while Axios had a story about McGahn’s expected departure before the official announcement.
A Times report on Aug. 18 said McGahn reportedly gave 30 hours of interviews to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office after Trump’s lawyers waived privilege. The stories said the lawyers never sought a full account of what McGahn said and Trump’s advisers were concerned about potentially damaging information.
McGahn reportedly provided information in the investigators’ probe of potential obstruction of justice, including information about Trump’s attempt to fire Mueller. A past report has said McGahn threatened to resign rather than carry out Trump’s order to ask the Department of Justice to fire Mueller.
According to the Times, the relationship between Trump and McGahn “has been rocky” since McGahn failed to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself in the probe of Russian influence into the 2016 election.
Politico had reported in March that McGahn was said to be considering stepping down later this year and had signaled an interest in returning to Jones Day. According to the Times, McGahn has repeatedly mulled resigning, but he stayed on to help get conservative judges appointed to the federal courts.
Trump did not say who would replace McGahn, but Axios said McGahn reportedly favored Emmet Flood for the job. Flood is overseeing the response to the Russia probe since Ty Cobb left the position. According to Axios, Flood has “impeachment chops” from his representation of former President Bill Clinton, and also has “little internal baggage.”
White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018
