Just As Long As There Was No Obstruction
This is form the FoxNews website, not CNN (I have yet to read the report myself:
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Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations,” the report said, noting that the “incidents” were often carried out “through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought to use his official power outside of usual channels.”
“These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General’s recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony,” the report continued.
But the report said: “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”
For example, the report detailed Trump's alleged effort to have Mueller sidelined, amid reports at the time that the special counsel’s office was investigating the president for obstruction of justice. The report detailed a dramatic moment where the president's White House counsel apparently rejected the push.
“On June 17, 2017, the president called [White House Counsel Don] McGahn at home and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre,” the report stated, referencing the Watergate scandal.
The report detailed another meeting two days later between Trump and former campaign chief Corey Lewandowski, in which he “dictated a message for Lewandowski to deliver to [then-Attorney General Jeff] Sessions.”
“The message said that Sessions should publicly announce that, notwithstanding his recusal from the Russia investigation, the investigation was ‘very unfair’ to the president, the president had done nothing wrong, and Sessions planned to meet with the Special Counsel and ‘let [him] move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections.’”
Lewandowski, according to the report, said he understood what the president wanted Sessions to do.
“Lewandowski did not want to deliver the president’s message personally,” the report said, “so he asked senior White House official Rick Dearborn to deliver it to Sessions.”
Dearborn ultimately did not follow through with the task.
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There's also another incident, when Trump, during a private lunch with Chris Christie, he asked Christie to call then-FBI Director James Comey on Valentine’s Day in 2017 and tell Comey he was “part of the team,” but Christie decided the request was “nonsensical” and didn’t comply.
Another time, the report notes, Trump contacted Christie after Comey was fired in May 2017 because he was “getting 'killed' in the press over Comey’s termination.” Trump asked Christie for advice, and the New Jersey governor and attorney general suggested having Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defend the decision, but Rosenstein declined.
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Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations,” the report said, noting that the “incidents” were often carried out “through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought to use his official power outside of usual channels.”
“These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General’s recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony,” the report continued.
But the report said: “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”
For example, the report detailed Trump's alleged effort to have Mueller sidelined, amid reports at the time that the special counsel’s office was investigating the president for obstruction of justice. The report detailed a dramatic moment where the president's White House counsel apparently rejected the push.
“On June 17, 2017, the president called [White House Counsel Don] McGahn at home and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre,” the report stated, referencing the Watergate scandal.
The report detailed another meeting two days later between Trump and former campaign chief Corey Lewandowski, in which he “dictated a message for Lewandowski to deliver to [then-Attorney General Jeff] Sessions.”
“The message said that Sessions should publicly announce that, notwithstanding his recusal from the Russia investigation, the investigation was ‘very unfair’ to the president, the president had done nothing wrong, and Sessions planned to meet with the Special Counsel and ‘let [him] move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections.’”
Lewandowski, according to the report, said he understood what the president wanted Sessions to do.
“Lewandowski did not want to deliver the president’s message personally,” the report said, “so he asked senior White House official Rick Dearborn to deliver it to Sessions.”
Dearborn ultimately did not follow through with the task.
=============
There's also another incident, when Trump, during a private lunch with Chris Christie, he asked Christie to call then-FBI Director James Comey on Valentine’s Day in 2017 and tell Comey he was “part of the team,” but Christie decided the request was “nonsensical” and didn’t comply.
Another time, the report notes, Trump contacted Christie after Comey was fired in May 2017 because he was “getting 'killed' in the press over Comey’s termination.” Trump asked Christie for advice, and the New Jersey governor and attorney general suggested having Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defend the decision, but Rosenstein declined.
