White House counsel Donald McGahn

Thirty hours?

That's an awfully long time for White House Counsel Donald McGahn to be interviewed by Robert Mueller III's team and not reveal anything—intentionally or not—that could damage Donald Trump.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that the former Jones Day partner voluntarily sat for at least three interviews with investigators—and did so because he “feared Mr. Trump was setting up Mr. McGahn to take the blame for any possible illegal acts of obstruction, according to people close to him.”

In response, McGahn and his lawyer, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner William Burck “devised their own strategy to do as much as possible to cooperate with Mr. Mueller to demonstrate that Mr. McGahn did nothing wrong.”

So … that seems like an excellent strategy for Donald McGahn—though perhaps not so much for Donald Trump.

Then again, as every commentator and their cousin has pointed out, the White House counsel represents the Office of the President, not the person who happens to occupy it. (Still, how does the top lawyer sitting for a tell-all interview benefit the Office of the President?)

There's another key detail in the Times story—that Trump and his former lawyers John Dowd and Ty Cobb greenlighted the interviews because hey, no one had anything to hide.

I'm starting to think maybe John Dowd and Ty Cobb weren't the best hires by the president.

Burck in a statement released after the Times article said, “President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn's testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the Special Counsel team's questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must.”

Hat tip to conservative commentator Bill Kristol (who is not a Trump fan) for pointing out that 'fulsomely' appears to be used incorrectly. While “fulsome' originally meant copious or abundant, its meaning has shifted to excessive praise or ingratiating flattery. “Some associate at Quinn Emanuel is getting fired right now,” he tweeted.

Then again, maybe Burck knew exactly what the word meant. If anyone would appreciate fulsome answers, it's our 45th president.

What kind of 3-D chess are you playing, Bill Burck?

As for Trump, he reacted on Twitter with his usual understated eloquence: “The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type “RAT.” But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn't have to. I have nothing to hide……”

White House Councel. Special Councel. Sigh.

Dean, you recall, was Richard Nixon's White House Councel counsel, the “master manipulator” of the Watergate cover-up, according to the FBI. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and became a prosecution witness in exchange for a reduced, four-month prison sentence. He was subsequently disbarred and became an investment banker, author and lecturer.

Dean tweeted that McGahn was “doing right” in talking to the special counsel.

In an interview with Slate, he elaborated.

“I don't think he was motivated to provide damning evidence,” Dean told Isaac Chotiner. “I think he was explaining what he knew. He was a fact witness, and trying to explain the facts as he understood them. I don't think he could even evaluate the importance of some of his testimony that later times and circumstances fit into a bigger pattern. We don't have all that information now. But I saw that occur in Watergate, where people were providing information, not necessarily for any sinister or other motive, that turned out to be very important and damning for Nixon.”

 

In Other Swamp News…

On Friday evening, this terse statement from Latham & Watkins partner Christopher Clark landed in my in-box unsolicited.

“Elliott Broidy has never agreed to work for, been retained by nor been compensated by any foreign government for any interaction with the United States Government, ever. Any implication to the contrary is a lie.”

Hmmm what's this now?

Remember Broidy? He was Michael Cohen's other client, the Republican fundraiser and defense contractor who said he had an affair with a Playboy model, got her pregnant, paid for her abortion, then hired Cohen to pay her $1.6 million in hush money. (The admission has given rise to speculation that Donald Trump actually had the affair, and Broidy took the fall to curry favor with the president.)

Now, he's apparently being investigated by the Justice Department for trying to sell his influence within the administration to foreign officials.

The Washington Post broke the story, reporting that two sources said Broidy tried to convince the feds to extradite a Chinese dissident back to China—a move sought by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Broidy also allegedly tried to get a Malaysian business official to pay him $75 million if DOJ scuttled its investigation of a Malaysian government development fund.

Another interesting nugget: The Post reported that prosecutors subpoenaed casino mogul/ former RNC finance chairman Steve Wynn, a longtime friend of the president's, for Broidy-related communications and records.

Wynn's lawyer? Steptoe & Johnson's Reid Weingarten—a lion of the white collar bar who to date has been under the radar in Trump-related probes. (Though he was reported to be one of the lawyers who earlier this year declined to represent the president.)

 

What I'm Reading

Ex-Big Law Partner Greebel Gets 18 Months in Prison for Shkreli Fraud Scheme

The judge said the former Kaye Scholer partner “was not naive, he was not inexperienced. He was not led astray by a young, brash CEO.”

Prenda 'Porn Troll' Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud Charges

The scheme involved uploading copyrighted porn videos to the internet and then suing individuals who downloaded them.

HUD Sues Facebook for Housing Discrimination

In an administrative complaint, HUD said the social media company's advertising tools enable those managing property to discriminate in housing.

Pa. Firm Claims It 'Wasted' $300K on FindLaw's 'Ineffective' Web Marketing Services

The personal injury firm said it was duped into paying for a website that wasn't practice area or geographically specific, a blog that featured the same posts that appeared on hundreds of other FindLaw websites across the country, and Facebook page that only got 68 likes.

Trump's EPA, Delaying Obama Rule, Makes 'Mockery' of Law, DC Circuit Says

By stalling the chemical disaster rule, the EPA has “delayed life-saving protections,” the D.C. Circuit said. 

Federal Judge Approves Anthem Data Breach Settlement, Slashes Attorney Fees

Although still a reduction from the original request, the award is higher than the special master's recommendation and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's 25 percent benchmark.