strategy? let s go back to the question of whether or not he incriminated the president. the president seems not to understand that mcgahn is not his personal lawyer. so you think about the kinds of things that might have been toads mcgahn under the misapprehension that he was his personal lawyer. and at time when they didn t think obstruction of justice could possibly be a crime. that was their view then and now. and i take harry s point that it s almost like mcgahn can provide the frame twaorbg which other details can be placed. what were the nature of the discussions before and after the comey firing? who set up the meetings with the russian ambassador shortly after the comey firing. even if he doesn t directly say
segment on cnn. the president didn t like it, tweeted against him and is asking aloud whether or not his clearance should be revoked on twitter. are we all going after this giant shiny object of security clearance? this is the president s new toy. he is certainly drawn to things. so frustrated with how washington works, even with controlling both houses of congress, the members of his own staff telling him no. much like presidential pardons, he s realized security clearances can revoked by him alone. just remember his order the strip brennans was actually drafted multiple weeks before it was issued. brennan s is more complicated. sometimes with this president, it is hard to know what is strategic.
former chief of staff at the cia and at the pentagon. robert, i would like to begin with you. what is the degree to which the trump camp was caught off guard by just the idea of 30 hours of don mcgahn testimony in front of the special counsel? it s not tonight trump camp caught off guard. it was mcgahn himself a year ago who was found this whole strategy by john dowd and ty cobb, the president s lawyers, to be off. mcgahn didn t agree with the cooperation strategy when it came to the mueller probe. he advised against it. he went along with the cooperation, setting the over 1 million documents from the white house and offering his time. in fact, i saw mcgahn go into mueller s office around 6:00 a.m. one morning when i was staking it out. he was fully cooperative then and ever since. there s some reporting. hey, joyce, cobb and dowd, their decision to waive
on that, let us bring in our lead-off panel on a monday night. moderator of washington week on pbs. former u.s. attorney joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. and jeremy bash is back with us. former chief of staff at the cia and at the pentagon. robert, i would like to begin with you. what is the degree to which the trump camp was caught off guard by just the idea of 30 hours of don mcgahn testimony in front of the special counsel? it s not tonight trump camp caught off guard. it was mcgahn himself a year ago who was found this whole strategy by john dowd and ty cobb, the president s lawyers, to be off. mcgahn didn t agree with the cooperation strategy when it came to the mueller probe. he advised against it. he went i know what the cooperation, setting the over 1 million documents from the white house and offering his time. in fact, i saw mcgahn go into
out in favor of the john brennan and against this practice of pulling clearances. still the washington post is reporting the white house is drafting more clearance cancellations, demanded by trump. with us to talk about it tonight. the white house reporter for the associated press. and we bring back the reporter for the guardian. welcome to you both. just tonight, phil mudd, career cia officer was in a debate segment on cnn. the president didn t like it, tweeted against him and is asking aloud whether or not his clearance should be revoked on twitter. are we all going after this giant shiny object of skurngss? this is the president s new toy. he is certainly drawn to things. so frustrated with how washington works, even with controlling both houses of congress, the members of his own staff telling him no. much like presidential pardons, he s realized security clearances can be voked by him alone. just remember his order the strip brennans was actually drafted multiple weeks before