in one episode the president told an aide that the white house counsel, don f. mcgahn ii, should issue a statement denying a new york times article in january. the article said mr. mcgahn told investigators that the president once asked him to fire the special counsel, robert s. mueller. mr. mcgahn never released a statement and later had to remind the president that he had indeed asked mr. mcgahn to see that mr. mueller was dismissed, the people said. in the other episode, mr. trump asked his former chief of staff, reince priebus, how his interview had gone with the special counsel s investigators and whether they had been nice, according to two people familiar with the discussion. now to the latest from the washington post. robert mueller has gathered evidence that a secret meeting in the seychelles just before the inauguration of donald trump was an effort to establish a back channel between the incoming administration and the
york times piece and the coauthor, michael schmidt, who is with us by phone tonight. michael, it seems to me there are two competing concerns here in your story. trump s concerns over what was asked and what was said to the special counsel, and the concerns of those who are hearing trump is asking about what happened with the special counsel. there s a longstanding expectation and advice that folks who are in the center of an investigation should not speak, either with prosecutors or with witnesses, as it could create an appearance of trying to interfere with an investigation. and the president has disregarded this, disregarded it back in february 2017 when he spoke to jim comey about the flynn investigation, and now as the investigation intensifies, engaging with reince priebus about his interview, engaging with don mcgahn about reports that mcgahn had been told by trump to fire mueller. and if you re someone who is
should issue a statement denying a new york times article in january. the article said mr. mcgahn told investigators that the president once asked him to fire the special counsel, robert s. mueller. mr. mcgahn never released a statement and later had to remind the president that he had indeed asked mr. mcgahn to see that mr. mueller was dismissed, the people said. in the other episode, mr. trump asked his former chief of staff, reince priebus, how his interview had gone with the special counsel s investigators and whether they had been nice, according to two people familiar with the discussion. now to the latest from the washington post. robert mueller has gathered evidence that a secret meeting in the seychelles just before the inauguration of donald trump was an effort to establish a back channel between the incoming administration and the kremlin. apparently contradicting statements made to lawmakers by one of its participants, according to people familiar with the matter. in
are two competing concerns here in your story. trump s concerns over what was asked and what was said to the special counsel, and the concerns of those who are hearing trump is asking about what happened with the special counsel. there s a longstanding expectation and advice that folks who are in the center of an investigation should not speak, either with prosecutors or with witnesses, as it could create an appearance of trying to interfere with an investigation. and the president has disregarded this, disregarded it back in february 2017 when he spoke to jim comey about the flynn investigation, and now as the investigation intensifies, engaging with reince priebus about his interview, engaging with don mcgahn about reports that mcgahn had been told by trump to fire mueller. and if you re someone who is concerned about the appearance of obstruction, these types of things would alarm you. you point out in the story, you and maggie do, that i
intelligence about that investigations that could be shared with the white house. asked about what the president will do, the white house said yesterday, quote, we ll see what happens. joining me now white house correspondent for the washington examiner. gaby, good morning to you. thank you for joining us. good morning. let s talk, first about rudy giuliani, brought in to bring order to trump s white house legal operation to say the least, bring order. seemingly bringing more chaos than order. what do you make of the fallout from all of his most recent comments beginning of course with that interview with sean hannity on wednesday night? right. i think that there are two major things that are going to happen going forward after that media blitz yesterday and that interview on wednesday night with sean hannity. the first being that robert mueller s team now has several new leads to look in to because of what rudy giuliani said during those interviews and in subsequent interviews w