The President Orders Priebus to Demand Sessions's Resignation

¶Three days later, on July 21, 2017, the Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence intercepts showed that Sessions had discussed campaign-related matters with the Russian ambassador, contrary to what Sessions had said publicly.⁶³⁸⁶³⁸ Adam Entous et al., Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador, U.S. intelligence intercepts show, Washington Post (July 21, 2017). The underlying events concerning the Sessions-Kislyak contacts are discussed in Volume I, Section IV.A.4.c, supra. That evening, Priebus called Hunt to talk about whether Sessions might be fired or might resign.⁶³⁹⁶³⁹ Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 23. Priebus had previously talked to Hunt when the media had reported on tensions between Sessions and the President, and, after speaking to Sessions, Hunt had told Priebus that the President would have to fire Sessions if he wanted to remove Sessions because Sessions was not going to quit.⁶⁴⁰⁶⁴⁰ Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 23. According to Hunt, who took contemporaneous notes of the July 21 call, Hunt told Priebus that, as they had previously discussed, Sessions had no intention of resigning.⁶⁴¹⁶⁴¹ Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 23-24; Hunt 7/21/17 Notes, at 1. Hunt asked Priebus what the President would accomplish by firing Sessions, pointing out there was an investigation before and there would be an investigation after.⁶⁴²⁶⁴² Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 23-24; Hunt 7/21/17 Notes, at 1-2.

¶Early the following morning, July 22, 2017, the President tweeted, "A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post, this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions. These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!"⁶⁴³⁶⁴³ @realDonaldTrump 7/22/17 (6:33 a.m. ET) Tweet. Approximately one hour later, the President tweeted, "So many people are asking why isn't the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?"⁶⁴⁴⁶⁴⁴ @realDonaldTrump 7/22/17 (7:44 a.m. ET) Tweet. Three minutes later, the President tweeted, "What about all of the Clinton ties to Russia, including Podesta Company, Uranium deal, Russian Reset, big dollar speeches etc." @realDonaldTrump 7/22/17 (7:47 a.m. ET) Tweet. Later that morning, while aboard Marine One on the way to Norfolk, Virginia, the President told Priebus that he had to get Sessions to resign immediately.⁶⁴⁵⁶⁴⁵ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 13-14. The President said that the country had lost confidence in Sessions and the negative publicity was not tolerable.⁶⁴⁶⁶⁴⁶ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 14; Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 4-5; see RP_000073 (Priebus 7/22/17 Notes). According to contemporaneous notes taken by Priebus, the President told Priebus to say that he "need[ed] a letter of resignation on [his] desk immediately" and that Sessions had "no choice" but "must immediately resign."⁶⁴⁷⁶⁴⁷ RP_000073 (Priebus 7/22/17 Notes). Priebus replied that if they fired Sessions, they would never get a new Attorney General confirmed and that the Department of Justice and Congress would turn their backs on the President, but the President suggested he could make a recess appointment to replace Sessions.⁶⁴⁸⁶⁴⁸ Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 5.

¶Priebus believed that the President's request was a problem, so he called McGahn and asked for advice, explaining that he did not want to pull the trigger on something that was "all wrong."⁶⁴⁹⁶⁴⁹ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 14; Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 4-5. Although the President tied his desire for Sessions to resign to Sessions's negative press and poor performance in congressional testimony, Priebus believed that the President's desire to replace Sessions was driven by the President's hatred of Sessions's recusal from the Russia investigation.⁶⁵⁰⁶⁵⁰ Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 5. McGahn told Priebus not to follow the President's order and said they should consult their personal counsel, with whom they had attorney-client privilege.⁶⁵¹⁶⁵¹ RP_000074 (Priebus 7/22/17 Notes); McGahn 12/14/17 302, at 11; Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 14. Priebus followed McGahn's advice and called his personal attorney to discuss the President's request because he thought it was the type of thing about which one would need to consult an attorney. Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 14. McGahn and Priebus discussed the possibility that they would both have to resign rather than carry out the President's order to fire Sessions.⁶⁵²⁶⁵² McGahn 12/14/17 302, at 11; RP_000074 (Priebus 7/22/17 Notes) ("discuss resigning together").

¶That afternoon, the President followed up with Priebus about demanding Sessions's resignation, using words to the effect of, "Did you get it? Are you working on it?"⁶⁵³⁶⁵³ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 14; Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 4. Priebus said that he believed that his job depended on whether he followed the order to remove Sessions, although the President did not directly say so.⁶⁵⁴⁶⁵⁴ Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 4. Even though Priebus did not intend to carry out the President's directive, he told the President he would get Sessions to resign.⁶⁵⁵⁶⁵⁵ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 15. Later in the day, Priebus called the President and explained that it would be a calamity if Sessions resigned because Priebus expected that Rosenstein and Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand would also resign and the President would be unable to get anyone else confirmed.⁶⁵⁶⁶⁵⁶ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 15. The President agreed to hold off on demanding Sessions's resignation until after the Sunday shows the next day, to prevent the shows from focusing on the firing.⁶⁵⁷⁶⁵⁷ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 15.

¶By the end of that weekend, Priebus recalled that the President relented and agreed not to ask Sessions to resign.⁶⁵⁸⁶⁵⁸ Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 15. Over the next several days, the President tweeted about Sessions. On the morning of Monday, July 24, 2017, the President criticized Sessions for neglecting to investigate Clinton and called him "beleaguered."⁶⁵⁹⁶⁵⁹ @realDonaldTrump 7/24/17 (8:49 a.m. ET) Tweet ("So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?"). On July 25, the President tweeted, "Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E- mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!"⁶⁶⁰⁶⁶⁰ @realDonaldTrump 7/25/17 (6:12 a.m. ET) Tweet. The President sent another tweet shortly before this one asking "where is the investigation A.G." @realDonaldTrump 7/25/17 (6:03 a.m. ET) Tweet. The following day, July 26, the President tweeted, "Why didn't A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation."⁶⁶¹⁶⁶¹ @realDonaldTrump 7/26/17 (9:48 a.m. ET) Tweet. According to Hunt, in light of the President's frequent public attacks, Sessions prepared another resignation letter and for the rest of the year carried it with him in his pocket every time he went to the White House.⁶⁶²⁶⁶² Hunt 2/1/18 302, at 24-25.

¶Analysis

¶In analyzing the President's effo1is to have Lewandowski deliver a message directing Sessions to publicly announce that the Special Counsel investigation would be confined to future election interference, the following evidence is relevant to the elements of obstruction of justice:

¶a. Obstrnctive act. The President's effo1i to send Sessions a message through Lewandowski would qualify as an obstructive act if it would naturally obstrnct the investigation and any grand jmy proceedings that might flow from the inquiiy.

¶The President sought to have Sessions announce that the President "shouldn't have a Special Prosecutor/Counsel" and that Sessions was going to "meet with the Special Prosecutor to explain this is ve1y unfair and let the Special Prosecutor move fo1ward with investigating election meddling for future elections so that nothing can happen in futme elections." The President wanted Sessions to disregard his recusal from the investigation, which had followed from a fo1mal DOJ ethics review, and have Sessions declare that he knew "for a fact" that "there were no Russians involved with the campaign" because he "was there." The President fuiiher directed that Sessions should explain that the President should not be subject to an investigation "because he hasn 't done anything wrong." Taken together, the President's dii·ectives indicate that Sessions was being instructed to tell the Special Counsel to end the existing investigation into the President and his campaign, with the Special Counsel being pennitted to "move fo1ward with investigating election meddling for future elections."

¶b. Nexus to an official proceeding. As described above, by the time of the President's initial one-on-one meeting with Lewandowski on June 19, 2017, the existence of a grand jmy investigation supervised by the Special Counsel was ublic knowled e. B the time of the President's follow-u meetin with Lewandowski,

¶See Volume II, Section 11.G, infra. To satisfy the nexus requii·ement, it would be necessaiy to show that limiting the Special Counsel 's investigation would have the natural and probable effect of impeding that grand jmy proceeding.

¶c. Intent. Substantial evidence indicates that the President's effo1i to have Sessions limit the scope of the Special Counsel's investigation to futme election interference was intended to prevent fuii her investigative scrntiny of the President's and his campaign's conduct.

¶As previously described, see Volume II, Section II.B, supra, the President knew that the Russia investigation was focused in paii on his campaign, and he perceived allegations of Russian interference to cast doubt on the legitimacy of his election. The President fuii her knew that the investigation had broadened to include his own conduct and whether he had obstructed justice. Those investigations would not proceed if the Special Counsel's jurisdiction were li1nited to future election interference only.

¶The timing and cii·cumstan ces of the President's actions support the conclusion that he sought that result. The President's initial direction that Sessions should limit the Special Counsel 's investigation came just two days after the President had ordered McGahn to have the Special Counsel removed, which itself followed public reports that the President was personally under investigation for obstruction of justice. The sequence of those events raises an inference that after seeking to terminate the Special Counsel, the President sought to exclude his and his campaign's conduct from the investigation's scope. The President raised the matter with Lewandowski again on July 19, 2017, just days after emails and information about the June 9, 2016 meeting between Russians and senior campaign officials had been publicly disclosed, generating substantial media coverage and investigative interest.

¶The manner in which the President acted provides additional evidence of his intent. Rather than rely on official channels, the President met with Lewandowski alone in the Oval Office. The President selected a loyal "devotee" outside the White House to deliver the message, supporting an inference that he was working outside White House channels, including McGahn, who had previously resisted contacting the Department of Justice about the Special Counsel. The President also did not contact the Acting Attorney General, who had just testified publicly that there was no cause to remove the Special Counsel. Instead, the President tried to use Sessions to restrict and redirect the Special Counsel's investigation when Sessions was recused and could not properly take any action on it.

¶The July 19, 2017 events provide further evidence of the President's intent. The President followed up with Lewandowski in a separate one-on-one meeting one month after he first dictated the message for Sessions, demonstrating he still sought to pursue the request. And just hours after Lewandowski assured the President that the message would soon be delivered to Sessions, the President gave an unplanned interview to the New York Times in which he publicly attacked Sessions and raised questions about his job security. Four days later, on July 22, 2017, the President directed Priebus to obtain Sessions's resignation. That evidence could raise an inference that the President wanted Sessions to realize that his job might be on the line as he evaluated whether to comply with the President's direction that Sessions publicly announce that, notwithstanding his recusal, he was going to confine the Special Counsel's investigation to future election interference.

The President's Efforts to Prevent Disclosure of Emails About the June 9, 2016 Meeting Between Russians and Senior Campaign Officials

¶Overview

¶By June 2017, the President became aware of emails setting up the June 9, 2016 meeting between senior campaign officials and Russians who offered derogatory information on Hillary Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." On multiple occasions in late June and early July 2017, the President directed aides not to publicly disclose the emails, and he then dictated a statement about the meeting to be issued by Donald Trump Jr. describing the meeting as about adoption.

¶Evidence