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President Trump’s legal team is wrestling with how much to cooperate with the special counsel looking into Russian election interference, an internal debate that led to an angry confrontation last week between two White House lawyers.
At the heart of the clash is an issue that has challenged multiple presidents during high-stakes Washington investigations: how to handle the demands of investigators without surrendering the institutional prerogatives of the office of the presidency. Similar conflicts during the Watergate and Monica S. Lewinsky scandals resulted in court rulings that limited a president’s right to confidentiality.
The debate in Trump’s West Wing has pitted Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, against Ty Cobb, a lawyer brought in to manage the response to the investigation.
Cobb argued for turning over as many of the emails and documents requested by the special counsel as possible in hopes of quickly ending the investigation.
McGahn supports cooperation, but has expressed worry about setting a precedent that would weaken the White House long after Trump’s tenure is over.
He is described as particularly concerned about whether the president will invoke executive or attorney-client privilege to limit how forthcoming McGahn could be if he himself is interviewed by the special counsel as requested.
UCJ, UNILORIN.
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