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I found an essay on Don McGahn to be very thought provoking. I was not thoughtful enough to see all the angles the piece raised on my own, but the comments of others who read the article helped me to see angles that I missed.
As the Mueller report has so beautifully stated, had it not been for some of President Trump's staff, notably White House counsel Don McGahn, but even the unlikely outsider to the White House Corey Lewandowski (who had no official role at all), Donald Trump would be in far deeper trouble for obstructing justice. (As everyone probably knows by now, President Trump directed Corey Lewandowski to tell the Attorney General to reverse his recusal and then stop the Mueller investigation, only allowing investigation of future Russian meddling in elections to be investigated.)
This article praises Don McGahn for refusing to obey all the illegal orders given to him by President Trump, keeping the United States safer and also keeping president Trump out of deeper criminal activity. Don McGahn does come out looking like a hero when compared to all the people around the president who were willing to go along with his illegal requests and to lie for him.
One of the comments made by a reader, however, is that the whistle should have been blown a long time before that. Indeed it should have been! The article discusses the role of a White House counsel and if it actually a good position or a position that will lead to a lawyer who acts in the personal interests of the president. John Dean certainly acted as a partisan for President Nixon until he got caught in the scandal with the burglary and the tapes.
Perhaps if such a position is to exist in the future, it should be well-defined by law and its guidelines should include the requirement that the White House Counsel report any requests for unlawful activity.
We should also look at the position of Attorney general now that William Barr has turned out to be another John Mitchell (Nixon's Attorney General who went to prison). Perhaps we need more guidelines specifying to whom the Attorney General reports.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/opinion/mueller-report-trump-don-mcgahn.html
AGBF
As the Mueller report has so beautifully stated, had it not been for some of President Trump's staff, notably White House counsel Don McGahn, but even the unlikely outsider to the White House Corey Lewandowski (who had no official role at all), Donald Trump would be in far deeper trouble for obstructing justice. (As everyone probably knows by now, President Trump directed Corey Lewandowski to tell the Attorney General to reverse his recusal and then stop the Mueller investigation, only allowing investigation of future Russian meddling in elections to be investigated.)
This article praises Don McGahn for refusing to obey all the illegal orders given to him by President Trump, keeping the United States safer and also keeping president Trump out of deeper criminal activity. Don McGahn does come out looking like a hero when compared to all the people around the president who were willing to go along with his illegal requests and to lie for him.
One of the comments made by a reader, however, is that the whistle should have been blown a long time before that. Indeed it should have been! The article discusses the role of a White House counsel and if it actually a good position or a position that will lead to a lawyer who acts in the personal interests of the president. John Dean certainly acted as a partisan for President Nixon until he got caught in the scandal with the burglary and the tapes.
Perhaps if such a position is to exist in the future, it should be well-defined by law and its guidelines should include the requirement that the White House Counsel report any requests for unlawful activity.
We should also look at the position of Attorney general now that William Barr has turned out to be another John Mitchell (Nixon's Attorney General who went to prison). Perhaps we need more guidelines specifying to whom the Attorney General reports.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/opinion/mueller-report-trump-don-mcgahn.html
AGBF