U.S. Department of Justice
Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)
President whereas McGahn would not.[1] The President wanted McGahn to talk to Sessions about the recusal, but McGahn told the President that DOJ ethics officials had weighed in on Sessions's decision to recuse.[2] The President then brought up former Attorneys General Robert Kennedy and Eric Holder and said that they had protected their presidents.[3] The President also pushed back on the DOJ contacts policy, and said words to the effect of, "You're telling me that Bobby and Jack didn't talk about investigations? Or Obama didn't tell Eric Holder who to investigate?"[4] Bannon recalled that the President was as mad as Bannon had ever seen him and that he screamed at McGahn about how weak Sessions was.[5] Bannon recalled telling the President that Sessions's recusal was not a surprise and that before the inauguration they had discussed that Sessions would have to recuse from campaign-related investigations because of his work on the Trump Campaign.[6]
That weekend, Sessions and McGahn flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the President.[7] Sessions recalled that the President pulled him aside to speak to him alone and suggested that Sessions should "unrecuse" from the Russia investigation.[8] The President contrasted Sessions with Attorneys General Holder and Kennedy, who had developed a strategy to help their presidents where Sessions had not.[9] Sessions said he had the impression that the President feared that the investigation could spin out of control and disrupt his ability to govern, which Sessions could have helped avert if he were still overseeing it.[10]
On March 5, 2017, the White House Counsel's Office was informed that the FBI was asking for transition-period records relating to Flynn—indicating that the FBI was still actively investigating him.[11] On March 6, the President told advisors he wanted to call the Acting Attorney
- ↑ McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 2.
- ↑ McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 2.
- ↑ McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 3. Bannon said the President saw Robert Kennedy and Eric Holder as Attorneys General who protected the presidents they served. The President thought Holder always stood up for President Obama and even took a contempt charge for him, and Robert Kennedy always had his brother's back. Bannon 2/14/18 302, at 5. Priebus recalled that the President said he had been told his entire life he needed to have a great lawyer, a "bulldog," and added that Holder had been willing to take a contempt-of-Congress charge for President Obama. Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 5.
- ↑ McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 3.
- ↑ Bannon 2/14/18 302, at 5.
- ↑ Bannon 2/14/18 302, at 5.
- ↑ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 3; Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 5; McGahn 12/12/17 302, at 3.
- ↑ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 3-4.
- ↑ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 3-4
- ↑ Sessions 1 /17/18 302, at 3-4. Hicks recalled that after Sessions recused, the President was angry and scolded Sessions in her presence, but she could not remember exactly when that conversation occurred. Hicks 12/8/17 302, at 13.
- ↑ SC_AD_000 I 37 (Donaldson 3/5/17 Notes); see Donaldson 11/6/17 302, at 13.
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