Mueller Investigation Obstruction: Witness Tampering, McGahn, Flynn Pardon Signal

Overview

Don McGahn received a phone call at home from the President of the United States telling him to have Robert Mueller fired. He refused. He prepared to resign. He told other White House aides what had happened.

The Mueller Report documented this episode and nine others constituting potential obstruction of justice. Mueller did not charge Trump because of a legal memo he was unwilling to override. He explicitly did not exonerate him.

Trump told the public the report totally exonerated him. Mueller went to a microphone and said that was false.

The McGahn Episode

The June 2017 firing order to McGahn was not subtle. Trump called him at home, told him to contact the Acting Attorney General, and directed that Mueller be removed. McGahn understood the significance — he had watched James Comey fired two months earlier while meeting with Rosenstein — and refused.

Trump later ordered McGahn to publicly deny the episode. McGahn told aides he would not "tell the boss's story." He had already told Mueller about it.

When the report was released, Trump's lawyers issued statements saying the episode showed Trump's innocence because the order was never carried out. McGahn's refusal prevented the crime's completion; it did not prevent the attempt.

The Pardon Signal

The Mueller Report's treatment of Manafort and the pardon question was direct. Trump publicly praised Manafort's "bravery" for not cooperating while calling Cohen, who cooperated, a "rat." Federal prosecutors documented in court filings that Manafort's attorney had conveyed discussions of a pardon between the two camps while Manafort was still under investigation.

Signaling to a witness that non-cooperation will be rewarded with a pardon — while publicly praising non-cooperation and attacking cooperation — is what prosecutors call witness tampering. Mueller's prosecutors called it that in court filings. Trump eventually pardoned Manafort.

Mueller's Actual Words

The five words "no collusion, total exoneration" were repeated by Trump and his allies until they entered the political bloodstream as established fact. Mueller's actual words were different: if his team had found that Trump clearly did not commit a crime, they would have said so. They did not say so.

Barr's four-page summary — which created the "exoneration" narrative before the report was released — was described by Mueller in a letter to Barr as having created "public confusion" about the report's findings. Mueller published that letter. Barr's summary had shaped weeks of public understanding before the actual report could correct it.