{"slug":"trump-first-term-gag-orders-mueller-witnesses","title":"Mueller Investigation Obstruction: Witness Tampering, McGahn, Flynn Pardon Signal","date":"2017-05-17","lastUpdated":"2019-04-18","description":"Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election documented ten episodes of potential obstruction of justice by Trump. These included ordering White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller (McGahn refused and prepared to resign), ordering Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to get Sessions to un-recuse himself, making public statements that witnesses and Mueller himself interpreted as intended to discourage cooperation, and dangling pardons in ways that federal prosecutors described as potential witness tampering.","summary":"The Mueller Report documented a sustained pattern of obstruction. Trump ordered McGahn to fire Mueller in June 2017; McGahn refused and prepared to resign. Trump later ordered McGahn to publicly deny having received this order; McGahn refused. Trump publicly praised associates who did not cooperate and attacked those who did. His private communications with Manafort were described in court filings as reassuring Manafort that a pardon was a possibility, potentially discouraging cooperation. Mueller concluded that Congress, not the Special Counsel, was the appropriate institution to address obstruction given OLC policy against indicting a sitting president.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"critical","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/politics/mueller-report.html","title":"Mueller Report Released: Read It in Full","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mueller-obstruction-trump-mcgahn/2019/04/19/story.html","title":"Mueller report details 10 obstruction episodes — Trump ordered Mueller fired","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/mueller-report-obstruction-mcgahn-trump","title":"Mueller documents 10 obstruction episodes involving Trump","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf","title":"Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election — Volume II: Obstruction","publisher":"U.S. Department of Justice (Mueller Report)"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Mueller","obstruction","McGahn","Manafort","first-term","rule-of-law","pardons","witness-tampering"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-05-17","title":"Mueller appointed Special Counsel","summary":"Rod Rosenstein appoints Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to investigate Russian interference and related matters. The investigation will last 22 months."},{"date":"2017-06-17","title":"Trump orders McGahn to fire Mueller — McGahn refuses","summary":"Trump calls McGahn at home and orders him to contact the Acting AG to fire Mueller. McGahn refuses and prepares to resign. He tells other White House aides he will not be the agent of firing another special counsel."},{"date":"2018-02-01","title":"Trump orders McGahn to deny firing order — McGahn refuses again","summary":"After reports of the firing order become public, Trump directs McGahn to issue a public statement denying Trump had ordered Mueller's firing. McGahn refuses again, telling aides he will not 'tell the boss's story.'"},{"date":"2018-08-21","title":"Manafort convicted — Trump praises his 'bravery' for not cooperating","summary":"After Manafort is convicted on eight fraud counts, Trump praises him publicly as 'a brave man' for not cooperating with Mueller. Cohen, who had agreed to cooperate, is called a 'rat' in Trump's public statements."},{"date":"2019-03-22","title":"Mueller Report submitted — Barr summarizes before release","summary":"Mueller submits his report to Barr. Barr sends Congress a four-page summary claiming the report does not establish collusion and that Barr has determined there was insufficient evidence of obstruction. Mueller writes Barr saying the summary 'created public confusion.'"},{"date":"2019-04-18","title":"Mueller Report released — 10 obstruction episodes documented","summary":"The redacted Mueller Report is released publicly. Volume II documents ten specific obstruction episodes and states explicitly that Mueller did not exonerate Trump — a direct contradiction of Trump's public claims."},{"date":"2019-05-29","title":"Mueller press conference — 'if innocent we would have said so'","summary":"Mueller holds a press conference stating that if his team had confidence Trump clearly did not commit a crime, they would have said so. He reaffirms OLC policy prevented charging a sitting president. He emphasizes Congress as the appropriate venue for further proceedings."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"judicial-finding","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Rule of law and the constitutional separation of powers; witnesses who received signals discouraging cooperation with federal investigators; the integrity of the Special Counsel investigation and the public's right to the results of a completed federal investigation","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President; ordered Mueller's firing (refused by McGahn); ordered Sessions to un-recuse; publicly attacked cooperating witnesses while praising non-cooperating ones; dangled pardons potentially discouraging cooperation; ordered McGahn to falsely deny the firing order","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Jeff Sessions","role":"Attorney General; recused himself from the Russia investigation; was repeatedly pressured by Trump to un-recuse and take control of the investigation; ultimately refused and resigned November 2018","institution":"U.S. Department of Justice"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2019-04-18","summary":"Based on Mueller Report Volume II release."}]}}