Schmidt S. - Donald Trump V. the United States - Inside the Struggle to Stop a President

“You’re weak ” :Ibid.

“Oh my God”:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

“We’ve got a problem”:Chris Whipple, “ ‘Who Needs a Controversy over the Inauguration?’: Reince Priebus Opens Up About His Six Months of Magical Thinking,” Vanity Fair, February 14, 2018.

“Jeff, what’s going on”:Ibid.

But the following morning:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

ACT FOUR VI. “HE’S SAYING SOME CRAZY SHIT”

In this chapter, when detailing Trump’s efforts to pressure Sessions through Lewandowski and Priebus, I regularly referenced the Mueller report.

at least eighty-three different gifts:Ken Klippenstein, “The Insane Gifts Saudi Arabia Gave President Trump,” Daily Beast, September 4, 2017.

Trump had taken Sessions’s resignation:Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” U.S. Department of Justice, March 2019.

In an effort to shield Nixon:“Dean Disbarred in Virginia for ‘Unethical’ Acts,” Associated Press, February 7, 1974, www.nytimes.com/​1974/​02/​07/​archives/​dean-disbarred-in-virginia-for-unethical-acts.html.

Late on June 14:Devlin Barrett et al., “Special Counsel Is Investigating Trump for Possible Obstruction of Justice, Officials Say,” Washington Post, June 14, 2017.

“Why is that Hillary”:Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, June 15, 2017, 3:43 p.m., twitter.com/​realDonaldTrump/​status/​875438639823675392.

“I am being investigated”:Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, June 16, 2017, 9:07 a.m., twitter.com/​realDonaldTrump/​status/​875701471999864833.

At 2:23 p.m.:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

“Call Rod, and tell Rod”:Ibid.

Concentrate on the judges:Ibid.

“While I was there, I said hello”:Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt, and Maggie Haberman, “Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions,” New York Times, July 19, 2017.

More than two weeks earlier:Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo, and Adam Goldman, “Trump’s Son Met with Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton,” New York Times, July 9, 2017.

Hours before we interviewed Trump:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

Lewandowski had also served:Maggie Haberman and Michael M. Grynbaum, “Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s Campaign Manager, Is Charged with Battery,” New York Times, March 29, 2016.

“I know that I recused”:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

On Friday night:Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Greg Miller, “Sessions Discussed Trump Campaign-Related Matters with Russian Ambassador, U.S. Intelligence Intercepts Show,” Washington Post, July 21, 2017.

“So many people”:Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, July 22, 2017, 7:44 a.m., twitter.com/​realDonaldTrump/​status/​888726438265966592.

In an interview with the Times : Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear, “Donald Trump Drops Threat of New Hillary Clinton Investigation,” New York Times, November 22, 2016.

The president said it was Priebus’s job:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

“Did you get it”:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions”:Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, July 25, 2017, 6:12 a.m., twitter.com/​realDonaldTrump/​status/​889790429398528000.

Then, in mid-September:Kenneth P. Vogel, “ ‘Isn’t That the Trump Lawyer?’ A Reporter’s Accidental Scoop,” New York Times, September 19, 2017.

Trump himself had dictated:Ashley Parker et al., “Trump Dictated Son’s Misleading Statement on Meeting with Russian Lawyer,” Washington Post, July 31, 2017.

“I think he’s going to be fair”:“Excerpts from Trump’s Interview with the Times,” New York Times, December 28, 2017.

Trump was considering firing Mueller:Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman, “Friend Says Trump Is Considering Firing Mueller as Special Counsel,” New York Times, June 12, 2017.

In the second week of January:Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo, “Trump Lawyer Arranged $130,000 Payment for Adult-Film Star’s Silence,” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2018.

“shithole countries”:Josh Dawsey, “Trump Derides Protections for Immigrants from ‘Shithole’ Countries,” Washington Post, January 12, 2018.

“At this hour”:Erik Wemple, “Fox News’s Sean Hannity Is Suddenly an Expert on Trump and Mueller,” Washington Post, March 19, 2018.

“So we have sources tonight”:Callum Borchers, “Fox News Hits Peak Trump Sycophancy, as Opinion Hosts Disregard the Network’s Own Reporting,” Washington Post, January 26, 2018.

“Of all the things”:Kailani Koenig, “Reince Priebus Disputes Report That Trump Tried to Fire Robert Mueller,” NBC News, February 4, 2018.

called his former chief of staff:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

telling the White House staff secretary:Ibid.

“If he doesn’t write a letter”:Ibid.

Four days earlier:Martin Gould, “White House Romance! Trump’s Comms Director Hope Hicks Is Seen Canoodling with President’s High Level Staff Secretary Rob Porter,” Daily Mail, February 1, 2018.

“I never said to fire Mueller”:Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

“What are these notes”:Ibid.

In July 1974, the House:Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Carrie Dann, “Impeachment Seems Much More Likely After Thursday’s Bombshell Report,” NBC News, January 18, 2019.

VII. NORMS OF PRESIDENTIAL CONDUCT 101

they had said that reports:Mark Landler, “Trump Will Have Wide Latitude to Let Family into Government’s Secret Circles,” New York Times, November 16, 2018.

In a section of his application:Maggie Haberman et al., “Trump Ordered Officials to Give Jared Kushner a Security Clearance,” New York Times, February 28, 2019.

“I have never seen that level”:Kara Scannell, “Background Check Chief Has ‘Never Seen’ Mistakes and Omissions at Level of Jared Kushner Forms,” CNN, February 13, 2018.

Kushner’s family owed more than $1 billion:Charles V. Bagli and Kate Kelly, “Deal Gives Kushners Cash Infusion on 666 Fifth Avenue,” New York Times, August 3, 2018.