Trump's top White House lawyer Donald McGahn 'cooperating with Mueller probe'

US president says move had his blessing and his administration is 'most transparent in history'

The White House’s top lawyer has cooperated extensively with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, according to reports.

Donald McGahn has shared detailed accounts about the episodes at the heart of the inquiry into whether Donald Trump obstructed justice, the New York Times reported.

Citing a dozen current and former White House officials and others briefed on the matter, the newspaper said Mr McGahn, the White House counsel, had shared some information the investigators would not have known about otherwise

Mr McGahn voluntarily cooperated with Mr Mueller‘s team as a regular witness, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the White House asked many staffers to do. He was not subpoenaed, nor did he speak to them under any kind of proffer or cooperation agreement.

The person also said he did not believe Mr McGahn provided Mr Mueller with incriminating information about Mr Trump. Mr McGahn provided the facts but nothing he saw or heard amounts to obstruction of justice by Mr Trump, the person said.

According to the New York Times, Mr McGahn described Mr Trump’s attitude toward the Russia investigation and the ways in which the president had urged him to respond to it in at least three voluntary interviews with investigators that totaled 30 hours over the past nine months.

The newspaper reported Mr McGahn’s motivation to speak with the special counsel as an unusual move that was in response to a decision by Mr Trump’s first team of lawyers to cooperate fully. But it said another motivation was Mr McGahn’s fear he could be placed in legal jeopardy because of decisions made in the White House that could be construed as obstruction of justice.

Mr McGahn, the newspaper said, shared information on Mr Trump’s comments and actions during the firing of the FBI director, James Comey, and the president’s obsession with putting a loyalist in charge of the inquiry, including his repeated urging of attorney general Jeff Sessions to claim oversight of it.

The newspaper said McGahn was also centrally involved in Mr Trump’s attempts to fire Mr Mueller, which investigators might not have discovered without him.

Mr McGahn cautioned investigators that he had never seen Mr Trump go beyond his legal authority.

A source close to the president said on Saturday the extent of Mr McGahn’s cooperation was a tactical or strategic mistake instigated by Mr Trump’s first legal team and it should not have been allowed to happen because Mr McGahn should have been covered by executive privilege. The person also said Mr Trump was not worried because he does not feel he did anything wrong.

That claim was backed up by a tweet from the president on Saturday evening in which he repeated his characterisation of Mr Mueller’s probe as a “witch hunt”.

The Republican tweeted: “I allowed White House Counsel Don McGahn, and all other requested members of the White House Staff, to fully cooperate with the Special Counsel.

“In addition we readily gave over one million pages of documents. Most transparent in history. No Collusion, No Obstruction. Witch Hunt!”

One lawyer familiar with the matter said Mr McGahn could have been subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury if he did not cooperate with Mr Mueller voluntarily and might have lost legal battles if he tried to invoke executive privilege.

William Burck, Mr McGahn’s personal lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer, John Dowd, said on Saturday he was aware Mr McGahn had spoken extensively with Mr Mueller’s team.

“Lot to cover,” Mr Dowd said in text message. “Did a great job. McGahn was a strong witness for the president according to Burck and debriefs of DM (Donald McGahn). Not aware of any of the alleged apprehensions manufactured by the NYT.”

Mr Dowd said a decision was made by the president’s legal team for Mr McGahn to cooperate with the investigation.

Rudy Giuliani, who joined the president‘s outside legal team after Mr Dowd resigned, said on Saturday that Mr Trump‘s lawyers had been in contact with Mr McGahn’s counsel after he was interviewed and possessed emails that say he provided nothing that was damaging or incriminating to the president.

Mr Giuliani said Mr McGahn’s cooperation with Mr Mueller was part of a legal strategy. As an officer of the court, he added, Mr McGahn would have had to resign if he thought the president had done anything illegal.

Mr Giuliani said he did not believe Mr McGahn was cooperating against the president, noting Mr Trump’s lawyers and Mr McGahn’s had a joint defense agreement that would otherwise have ended.

Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who resigned in May after joining the administration last summer to assist the president with the Russia probe, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mr Mueller, declined to comment.

“The president and Don have a great relationship,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement. “He appreciates all the hard work he‘s done, particularly his help and expertise with the judges, and the Supreme Court nominees.”

Others in the White House have described the relationship as strained.

Reuters