U.S. Department of Justice
Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)
dictated a statement to be released by Trump Jr. in response to the first press accounts of the June 9 meeting that said the meeting was about adoption.
But as described above, the evidence does not establish that the President intended to prevent the Special Counsel's Office or Congress from obtaining the emails setting up the June 9 meeting or other information about that meeting. The statement recorded by Corallo—that the emails "will never get out"—can be explained as reflecting a belief that the emails would not be made public if the President's press strategy were followed, even if the emails were provided to Congress and the Special Counsel.
- H. The President's Further Efforts to Have the Attorney General Take Over the Investigation
Overview
From summer 2017 through 2018, the President attempted to have Attorney General Sessions reverse his recusal, take control of the Special Counsel's investigation, and order an investigation of Hillary Clinton.
Evidence
- 1. The President Again Seeks to Have Sessions Reverse his Recusal
After returning Sessions's resignation letter at the end of May 2017, but before the President's July 19, 2017 New York Times interview in which he publicly criticized Sessions for recusing from the Russia investigation, the President took additional steps to have Sessions reverse his recusal. In particular, at some point after the May 17, 2017 appointment of the Special Counsel, Sessions recalled, the President called him at home and asked if Sessions would "unrecuse" himself.[1] According to Sessions, the President asked him to reverse his recusal so that Sessions could direct the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton, and the "gist" of the conversation was that the President wanted Sessions to unrecuse from "all of it," including the Special Counsel's Russia investigation.</ref>Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 15.</ref> Sessions listened but did not respond, and he did not reverse his recusal or order an investigation of Clinton.[2]
In early July 2017, the President asked Staff Secretary Rob Porter what he thought of Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand.[3] Porter recalled that the President asked him if Brand was good, tough, and "on the team."[4] The President also asked if Porter thought Brand was interested in being responsible for the Special Counsel's investigation and whether she would want
- ↑ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 15. That was the second time that the President asked Sessions to reverse his recusal from campaign-related investigations, See Volume II, Section II.C.1, supra (describing President's March 2017 request at Mar-a-Lago for Sessions to unrecuse).
- ↑ Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 15.
- ↑ Porter 4/13/18 302, at 11; Porter 5/8/18 302, at 6.
- ↑ Porter 4/13/18 302, at 11; Porter 5/8/18 302, at 6.
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