Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb revealed Wednesday that White House Counsel Don McGahn recused his whole office from the Russia investigation last summer.
McGahn made the decision to halt his staff’s interactions with Special Counsel Robert Mueller because many of his own attorneys “had been significant participants” surrounding the firings of national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey, Cobb said.
“The White House made a decision to recuse his entire office,” Cobb said during a panel discussion hosted by George Mason University in Northern Virginia.
The former Trump White House lawyer explained that McGahn’s recusal was a key reason for why he was hired last summer to manage President Donald Trump’s official response on the Russia case, including filling Mueller’s requests for documents and arranging interviews with current and former White House aides.
While it’s been widely known that McGahn handed over day-to-day responsibilities to Cobb when he started working in the White House last July, neither of the Trump lawyers had ever specified that the entire White House legal office had been recused from the Russia probe in its entirety.
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McGahn and at least two of his top aides, chief of staff Ann Donaldson and former senior associate counsel James Burnham, have sat for interviews with Mueller.
McGahn himself was questioned by the special counsel for his role in Flynn’s firing last February, as well as Comey’s ouster that May. He’s also explained Trump’s request to try to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Russia probe.
White House counsel McGahn recused his office from Mueller probe (Politico)