Between a recent report concerning Donald Trump’s alleged mistreatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the president’s ethics watchdog allowing outside donations to cover Russia inquiry-related legal costs, things aren’t too rosy in the White House Rose Garden. This is especially the case in another damning New York Times report concerning an internal struggle between White House Counsel Don McGhan and lawyer Ty Cobb, who was brought in to manage the response to Robert Mueller’s investigation. Their butting of heads has apparently resulted in an increasingly paranoid administration.
Per the report, Cobb favors submitting as much as possible to the Mueller probe, whereas McGhan “supports cooperation, but has expressed worry about setting a precedent that would weaken the White House.” More recently, a Times reporter apparently overheard Cobb at a steakhouse, during which the lawyer complained at length about “a McGahn spy” and the counsel’s predilection for keeping “a couple documents locked in a safe.” And yes, it gets even weirder:
Tension between the two comes as life in the White House is shadowed by the investigation. Not only do Mr. Trump, Mr. Kushner and Mr. McGahn all have lawyers, but so do other senior officials. The uncertainty has grown to the point that White House officials privately express fear that colleagues may be wearing a wire to surreptitiously record conversations for Mr. Mueller.
That’s right. White House staffers within McGhan and Cobb’s orbit — if not the majority of those working in the administration — are supposedly so paranoid, they worry their colleagues are wearing wires for Mueller. Times reporter Kenneth Vogel went on CNN Sunday to discuss the salacious story, and while he didn’t expand on the wire bit too much, he did suggest, “There is suspicion about which sides people are on” in the administration. Good thing Spicer got out and found redemption in Hollywood.
(Via New York Times and Mediaite)