>Threshold question, did POTUS direct McGahn to remove SC?
News said yes, POTUS denied, but explained to McG had simply wanted McG to bring conflicts of interest to DOJ's attention
>see Vol-II II.I
>McGahn recalled language that is consistent
>Except that McG quit
Twice POTUS told McG "Mueller has to go" *
>McGahn did not want to participate in Saturday Night Massacre
>Told Priebus that the president had asked McG to "do crazy shit"
*McGahn 12/14/17 302's
>POTUS also discussed "knocking out Mueller" in 5/23/17 call w/McG
>calls to Priebus & Bannon, who told Ruddy that POTUS was considering terminating SC
(phone tag, much?)
>POTUS reached out to Christie, thoughts on firing SC
POTUS looks rattled at this stage, mid-2017
>pg 302, DoJ cleared the SC, advisors told POTUS claimed conflicts were "silly", then more media muh-obstruction; this is the weekend POTUS called McG from Camp David about terminating the SC
>POTUS later denied making those calls, showing his awareness it could be seen as improper
5/23/17 McG warned POTUS his "biggest exposure" wasn't firing Comey but his "other calls" and "contacts" & his "ask re: Flynn"
>early June, news outlets reported
>mid June SC informed WH
>News says obstruction
>POTUS considered it critically important that he was not under investigation, and that the public not think he was under investigation, and drafted Comey's termination letter concerned mostly with how not under investigation he was.
And here's the page with the quote we've seen.
>POTUS learned of SC 5/17/17, said "[t]his is the end of my presidency"
Odd spelling correction. Wonder what precisely was said, that only the 't' needed to be corrected to make this statement out of it?
>POTUS also faulted Session for recusing "you were supposed to protect me"
Section F
>6/19/17, POTUS spoke with Corey Lewandowski in the oval office, dicted a message to Sessions to limit the Russia investigation to the future only. A month later, another letter to constrict the scope of the investigation, then hours later POTUS held unplanned press interview that raised questions about Sessions job security
About a dozen 302's collected 4/6/18, plus Kelly's 302 from 8/2/18
>message was never delivered. CL considered himself a nobody b/c he wasn't in government, and anyway Sessions had a last-minute thing force cancelling the metting.
>CL got ahold of Rick Dearborn, thinking the message would be heard better from RD, but despite CL assuring mid-July the message would be delivered soon, Dearborn felt uncomfortable and never passed msg along.
302's from 6/2/18
>POTUS gave unplanned interview to NYT about how Sessions shouldn't have recused.
>Hicks tried to throw herself between reporters & POTUS to limit the interview but DJT "loved the interview", later told her how happy he was about NYT's coverage of Sessions' criticisms
302's w/Hicks from 12/8/17, 3/13/18
>WaPo contradicts Sessions about speaking campaign-matters w/Russians; underlying events about Sessions<->Kislyak are in Vol-I Sect IV.A.4.c (don't know what page, yet)
>7/22/17, POTUS tweets about leaks to WaPo, HRC crimes/emails
>Spoke to Priebus about firing Sessions, who decided to talk to McG who said not to follow POTUS' order until consulting with personal counsel
>Priebus told DJT he would follow through but had no intention of following through. Eventually POTUS agreed not to ask for Sessions termination
302's w/priebus collected 1/18/18, and one from 4/3/18, & McGahn 12/14/17
>but DJT tweeted about poor performance. Hunt (302 from2/1/18) said Sessions wrote another resignation letter and carried it with him whenever he went to the WH
Page 309 & 310 are the analysis of whether that all counts as obstruction. There's a grand-jury redaction in there about POTUS' followup meeting w/Lewandowski (see Vol-II, Sect II.G
going outside official channels looks bad, as well as trying to redirect an investigation into the past (his conduct/campaign/obstruction) into just making sure the future was secure.
Also, Sessions had already recused so couldn't fulfill POTUS' expectations to restrirct the SC
If it looks like I need to be more elaborate with the analysis I'll be back. Also, section G starts late in 310.