The Washington Examiner’s Byron York sat down for an interview with former Trump lawyer John Dowd who offered up some surprising new details on the relationship between Robert Mueller and the president.
First up, according to Dowd, Mueller knew Trump’s bashing of his investigation as a “witch hunt” was just politics and he was a “big boy about it”:
What was going on when Trump was bashing Mueller probe–and cooperating at same time? 'Bob was a big boy about the political side of it. He understood the president had to address the politics of it.' From new interview with former Trump lawyer John Dowd: https://t.co/imYWyhuvlc
— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 4, 2019
And in private, the “witch hunt” stuff was really “cooperating big-time” with Mueller and his office:
Behind scenes in Trump-Mueller. Complicated relationship. In public, Trump calling probe a hoax, witch hunt. In private, cooperating big-time. New interview with former Trump lawyer John Dowd. https://t.co/ffAwGVOsoq
— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 4, 2019
How much cooperation? According to Dowd, Mueller would tip him off with code words when they met in secret. That’s a legit, “whoa, if true” moment:
Whoa, if true. POTUS lawyer Dowd tells @ByronYork Mueller gave Trump a back-channel wink when news stories weren't right (which would mean Mueller was tacitly acknowledging what was true). Same reason Pete Rose couldn't just-sometimes bet on his own team. pic.twitter.com/ZNq2FY1vin
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) April 4, 2019
The level of cooperation may be one of the reasons bringing obstruction charges against the president was “implausible”:
Trump, Mueller worked out unusual arrangement on executive privilege. Zillion documents turned over, interviews done. Idea was to finish quickly. Side benefit: Level of cooperation makes obstruction accusations implausible. https://t.co/FVNGSaM8J0 https://t.co/axA9AYtnal
— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 4, 2019
More from York on this:
Trump declined interview with Mueller. Mueller didn't subpoena. Reasons: 1) He had no underlying crime. 2) Extensive cooperation made Espy a problem; Mueller couldn't show info was available nowhere else. https://t.co/oT2p6WbHGM https://t.co/NALq6XRd3f https://t.co/60Zhu4LtEO
— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 4, 2019
In summary, Robert Mueller was speaking in code to Trump’s legal team and the president was fully cooperating with the investigation. That’s quite a shift from what Dems thought was happening, no?
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