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Zusammenfassung von Donald Trump v. The United States

Name: Donald Trump v. The United States
Rating: 3.9 (55 reviews)
Author: Michael S. Schmidt

Michael S. Schmidt

Inside the Struggle to Stop a President

3.9 (55 Bewertungen)

29 Min.

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US-Präsidenten Politik der USA

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Donald Trump v. The United States
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What’s in it for me? Get a revealing look into the many controversies surrounding the Trump administration.

These blinks take you through the tumultuous 2016 US presidential campaign and the first couple years of the chaotic Trump administration. Your guides through this rough terrain are two central figures in the story: FBI director James Comey and White House Counsel Don McGahn.

You’ll see how the apolitical Comey went from foiling the Clinton campaign to challenging President Trump. You’ll also find out how McGahn quickly became a star witness for the Mueller investigation, sharing an unprecedented amount of insight into the Trump administration. It’s quite the story, so let’s dive in!

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how uncomfortable a dinner invitation from the President can get;
why McGahn felt compelled to cooperate with the Mueller team; and
how the Justice Department limited the scope of Mueller’s investigation.

The FBI’s involvement in the 2016 election was related to events that had happened years earlier.

In many ways, the 2016 US presidential election was unprecedented. No elected president had ever run a campaign quite like Donald Trump. For most candidates, having no real political experience, filing for bankruptcy six different times, and bragging – on tape – about grabbing women would all lead to defeat. But not for Donald Trump.

Trump not only survived the kind of gaffes that would bring most campaigns to a screeching halt, he went on to beat a presidential candidate that many analysts considered the most qualified person alive. There are many theories as to how and why this happened, but there’s little doubt that the FBI played an unusually significant role in the run-up to the election.

The key message here is: The FBI’s involvement in the 2016 election was related to events that had happened years earlier.

The FBI’s influence on the election was primarily centered around Hillary Clinton’s work emails during her time as Secretary of State – more specifically, emails associated with the September 11, 2012 attack on the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya.

At that time, there was also a presidential election going on. And Republican candidate Mitt Romney was quick to use the incident to his advantage by issuing a statement that criticized the Obama administration for being soft on terrorists.

Now, prior to this event, it was widely accepted that the date September 11 was off-limits for partisan political jabs. Many Republicans, including senior ranking senator John McCain, expressed their displeasure with Romney breaking this tradition – especially since the full picture of what had happened at Benghazi was far from clear.

As the author sees it, Romney’s aggressive tactics following the Benghazi attack marked a turning point in American politics. It emboldened those who questioned Obama’s patriotism and suspected he was terrorist-friendly. This was especially true of the Tea Party members and right-wing politicians who, in 2014, eventually pressured Republicans into launching an investigation into Benghazi.

It was during this investigation that Hillary Clinton’s emails were combed through; it was discovered that she’d been using a private email address. At the time, the investigators thought little of this detail. But it wasn’t going to go away.

Despite his desire to be apolitical, the FBI director felt compelled to speak up.

In March of 2015, word got out that Hillary Clinton wasn’t just using a private email account while at work – she was using it as her primary email account for work. When this came to light, it reignited the Republican efforts to go after Clinton. Spurred on by senate Republicans, the matter was referred to the FBI in July of 2015 and given the code name Midyear Exam.

The key message here is: Despite his desire to be apolitical, the FBI director felt compelled to speak up.

Comey tried to stay apolitical and transparent, but his actions had unintended consequences.

In October, just weeks before election day, the matter was brought back to life. It all hinged on a case involving former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who was married to high-ranking Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

The Weiner investigation involved the former Congressman’s correspondence with a 15-year-old girl from North Carolina. It turned out that Weiner had used Abedin’s laptop for some of this correspondence, which in turn led the FBI to finding a new batch of emails from Clinton.

The FBI found many troubling ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign was code-named Crossfire Hurricane. Its main concerns were: Had the Russians purposefully targeted the 2016 election in an effort to get Trump elected, and was the Trump administration directly involved? Since many within the Trump campaign had ties to Russia, there were some interesting leads.

For starters, campaign chairman Paul Manafort had previously worked as a paid political consultant for Russian oligarchs such as Oleg Deripaska. According to Deripaska, their relationship ended with Manafort owing him $19 million. Manafort had also worked alongside Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukranian the FBI would eventually link to Russian intelligence.

Trump wanted loyalty from Comey – and got upset when he didn’t get it.

The FBI investigation was still ongoing when Trump took office in early 2017. During the transition, Comey had the awkward responsibility of briefing Trump on the most pressing issues at hand. This included telling him about Russia’s cyber attacks – as well as informing him, in private, of the Steele Dossier and the possibility that Russia had compromising information on him.

But things got even more awkward for Comey once Trump moved into the White House and invited him over for a one-on-one dinner. This was not something Comey was comfortable with. During the Obama administration, Comey didn’t have dinner with the President or even take part in his regular basketball game. He wanted to make sure everyone saw the FBI and its director as not being in the President’s pocket. But that wasn’t how Trump saw things.

As White House Counsel, McGahn found himself faced with a combative president.

One of the few people in the Trump administration with some political experience was White House Counsel Don McGahn.

As part of the Trump White House, McGahn was taking on the task of stacking the federal courts with as many conservative-friendly judges as possible. Essentially, McGahn was given free rein in this pursuit – but he quickly found it difficult to not be distracted.

With the appointment of a special counsel, new lawyers came on board.

The day after Trump fired Comey, he had an Oval Office meeting with the Russian ambassador and the Russian foreign minister. The President was in a celebratory mood; he wanted them to know that the firing would put an end to the investigation that had been plaguing the administration since day one.

However, as McGahn had predicted, the firing only complicated things further. Now, it looked to the FBI like Trump was taking active steps to derail the investigation. And with Comey gone, it fell to FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe to make sure the investigation continued.

With guidance from his own lawyer, McGahn became a prime witness.

For the Mueller investigation, McGahn also sought advice from his own lawyer, William A. Burck. Burck was also essential in helping McGahn respond to Trump’s demands – which included ordering him to fire Mueller.

Burck was one of the most sought-after lawyers in Washington. He, too, found it hard to believe that Cobb was just allowing White House staff to go into interviews without any internal review or briefings beforehand. But that’s exactly what was happening.

As McGahn cooperated with Mueller’s team, Trump continued to test the limits of his role.

Just days after McGahn’s interrogation with the Mueller team in March 2018, Andrew McCabe – the acting director of the FBI – was fired.

The firing of McCabe, just like the firing of Comey, became a point of interest for the Mueller team – but Trump continued to act as though he had every right to use the executive branch of the government to go after his enemies. This time, he wanted McGahn to prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey.

As McGahn exited the White House, the Mueller investigation ended amid more controversy.

By the summer of 2018, McGahn and Trump were barely on speaking terms. And as far as McGahn could determine, the rumors about him blocking a Manafort pardon had been planted by others in the White House. They were part of a disinformation campaign designed to further put him at odds with the President.

Since McGahn had been vocal in his doubts that the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, should have top-level security clearance, he believed Kushner and Ivanka Trump were behind this disinformation. Indeed, it looked as though McGahn’s days in the White House were numbered.

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Worum geht es in Donald Trump v. The United States?

Donald Trump v. The United States (2020) tells the story of the 2016 presidential campaign and the subsequent Special Counsel investigation into the Trump administration. It details the ways in which the investigation was assisted by the White House counsel – and how it was curtailed by Trump and the Justice Department.

Bestes Zitat aus Donald Trump v. The United States

Where are my fucking lawyers? All I have is Mr. Magoo, Mr. Peepers, and you, Trump said to McGahn...

—Michael S. Schmidt

Wer Donald Trump v. The United States lesen sollte

News junkies
Citizens concerned about US democracy
People curious about the Mueller investigation

Über den Autor

Michael S. Schmidt has worked at the New York Times since 2005, during which time he’s gone from answering phones at the foreign desk to being awarded two Pulitzer Prizes. He previously covered sports and gained recognition for his reporting on the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He is now a seasoned Washington correspondent.

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