by Bob Woodward
Under Article II of the Constitution, Dowd explained to him, the president solely ran the executive branch. And all of his actions, particularly pertaining to Comey, were within those powers. “I will never tell you that your instincts are wrong about these guys and what they’re up to. We’ve been treated very nicely. But we treated them very nicely.”
* * *
In December a story ran in the German financial daily Handelsblatt saying the Mueller investigation had subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank, the largest in Germany, and the primary lender to Trump.
The president called Dowd at 7 a.m. He was furious.
“I know my relationships with Deutsche Bank,” he said. He maintained the bank loved him and always got paid. “I know what I borrowed, when I borrowed, when I paid it back. I know every goddamn one.” He could recall whom he had dealt with and other details with specificity. “I’m telling you, this is bullshit!”
Dowd pushed Quarles. “Hey, Jim, there’s no secrets here. This is bullshit.”
A conference call was scheduled with lawyers from all the relevant law firms. Everyone sounded like they were talking in code.
“Look, would you please,” Dowd said. “My guy does not talk in code.”
Finally Quarles reported, “There’s nothing there. We had subpoenas to Deutsche Bank way back in the summertime, but it doesn’t involve the president or his finances.”
At 10 a.m. on December 21, Dowd went to see Mueller in an attempt to turn the tables. Often the best defense was to go on the offense.
“All the records have been produced,” Dowd said. “All the witnesses have been interviewed except one or two. The entire inquiry appears to be the product of a conspiracy by the DNC, Fusion GPS—which did the Steele dossier—and senior FBI intelligence officials to undermine the Trump presidency. The failure to investigate Comey’s role precipitating the inquiry is a travesty. Comey’s aberrant and dishonorable conduct demands scrutiny.” The Justice Department Inspector General was investigating Comey’s actions in the Clinton email case. “Kicking the can to the IG undermines confidence in your inquiry,” Dowd claimed.
Mueller did not reply.
* * *
Mueller and Quarles kept pushing. They wanted to interview the president. On January 8, 2018, Mueller dictated a list of 16 topics they wanted to ask. Nearly all dealt with Flynn, Comey or Sessions.
Dowd advised the president that list was not specific. “What I’d like to do is I’d like to push it even further so you have a better picture. You know, 16 topics, you’re kind of guessing as to what they’re going to ask you.”
“What are you going to do?” Trump asked.
“Well, my idea is we’re going to write him a letter answering these.” They would present the facts as they saw them, and make legal arguments especially about the president’s Article II powers. “And do it like a Supreme Court brief.”
“We’ve given them everything,” Trump insisted. Why wasn’t it enough? He added, “I don’t mind talking to him.”
Dowd and Jay Sekulow spent the next two weeks drafting the letter. Sekulow, a frequent commentator on the Christian Broadcasting Network and Fox News, had represented conservative, religious and antiabortion groups over a 30-year career.
“How you coming?” Trump eventually asked Dowd. “Can I see it?”
Dowd came to the White House residence on Saturday, January 27, 2018, around 1 p.m.
The president gave him a brief tour including the Lincoln Bedroom. “You and I fit in this bed,” he joked.
“We could see ourselves in the mirror,” Dowd joked back.
“If you win this case,” Trump said, “I’ll give you the A tour. Takes hours. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful mansion in the world. There’s nothing like it.”
Trump’s son, Barron, came in with a friend.
“Dad,” Barron said, “he wants his picture taken with you. Is that all right?”
Sure. The picture was snapped.
Trump and Dowd sat at a table with a view of the Washington and Jefferson Memorials.
“I would like to give you sort of a feel of what testimony could be like,” Dowd said. They would do a practice session. “And we’ll talk about a couple of these subjects. Maybe Comey and Flynn. Just lightly. You don’t have to do anything to prepare. Just come in cold.
“I want you to read our letter. I’m ready to sign it, but I will not sign it until you feel good about it. Because it is a major submission. This tells Bob where we are and where we think he is and why you should not—why he doesn’t deserve to ask you questions.
“If the questions seem harmless, don’t treat them that way. And I want you thoroughly focused on listening to the words. I’m not a windy examiner. I like the short, sweet questions. And I like to build it. I’m very patient. And I’ll give you the standard advice—just answer the question. Okay? Got it?”
Yes.
“When did you first learn that there was a problem with General Flynn?”
“I’m not sure. I think when McGahn had talked to Sally Yates. But John, I’m not sure.” Trump said that the acting attorney general had said that Flynn had told the vice president something that wasn’t correct.
“What’d you do about it?”
Trump said he didn’t think he had done anything. “I think Don took ahold of it. And they worked . . .”
“Did you call Flynn in?”
“No.”
“Did you talk to Flynn at all?”
“I don’t know. There’s something in my mind that . . . He and Priebus called me.”
“Well, Mr. President, did you ever ask him if he talked about sanctions with [Russian ambassador] Kislyak?”
“No.”
“Are you sure about that, Mr. President? We have some evidence that there may have been such a conversation. Are you sure about that?”
Dowd was aware that Priebus had given testimony favorable to the president. In one version with Priebus in the room Flynn had said in front of the president that he had never discussed his Kislyak conversations with the president.
Trump wandered off with a long answer that didn’t mean much.
“Look, let’s get back to brass tacks,” Dowd said.
“Oh.”
“Did there come a time when you had to let him go?” Dowd asked about Flynn.
“Yeah.”
“Do you remember how that happened?”
“No. I think he had a letter of resignation. I don’t mind telling you I felt very bad for him. He had his shortcomings, but he was a hell of a nice guy and I admired him. As you know, I love military guys. So that was the recommendation, and that’s what I did.” Priebus and McGahn had recommended that Flynn be fired.
“Did they ever tell you about an FBI interview?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
Dowd felt that Trump really couldn’t remember. As he asked more questions there was a lot that Trump said he couldn’t remember. He found this understandable, given the demands of the presidency.
So Dowd went back to December 2016, just after the election, and asked more about Flynn. “Well, was he making contact with diplomats, etcetera?”
“I assume he was.”
“Did he talk to Kislyak?”
“You know, I don’t know. I know there were a lot of conversations among the staff. I think I tweeted out some things.”
On March 31, Trump had tweeted, “Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!”
“What was your position on the sanctions Obama approved?” Dowd asked. Obama had expelled 35 Russian diplomats, sanctioned several individuals and entities, and closed two Russian compounds in January 2017.
“Well, my position was it gave me leverage.”
“Oh!” Dowd said. “Because everybody thinks you would be against them, because you wanted good relations with Putin.”
“No, I looked at
them as leverage,” Trump repeated.
Based on the testimony that Dowd had reviewed, this was accurate. Dowd figured he was cruising pretty well. The six-page memo the White House and Dowd had compiled on Flynn had much more information than Trump was now recalling. Dowd had given the day-by-day account of how the White House discovered that Flynn had lied to Mueller and Quarles, who had complimented the memo for its thoroughness.
“Well,” Dowd asked, “why did you tell Director Comey that—you kind of asked him to take it easy on Flynn. What was that all about?”
“I never said,” Trump said.
“He made a contemporaneous memorandum of it,” Dowd said. “Reported it to his buddies.”
“I didn’t say that,” Trump replied. “John, I absolutely didn’t say that.”
“Well, he says . . .”
“He’s a liar,” Trump said. He went full tilt on Comey. “The guy’s a crook, he’s a liar. He bounces between the Clinton [email] thing and making memos and leaking.”
The president had his critique down pat. He delivered it all, unleashed, nonstop. Dowd tried to interject. No way. Trump went the whole nine yards.
“Look,” Dowd said after the storm had briefly subsided, “you can’t answer a question that way. That is what they say is off-putting. It’s not good. Okay? Be polite about it.”
“Well, goddamn it!”
“Did he tell you that you weren’t under investigation” on January 6?
“Yes he did.”
“He just meant on the salacious part, not collusion, right?” Dowd asked. That was one theory in Mueller’s team.
“That’s bullshit! He never said that to me.”
Dowd believed him since Comey had corroborated that there had been no investigation on anything at that point.
The next 30 minutes were useless. “This thing’s a goddamn hoax!” Trump reprised everything he had tweeted or said before. Dowd could get nowhere. Trump was raging. Dowd worried that if he had been Mueller that Trump probably would have fired him on the spot. It was almost as if Trump were asking, Why am I sitting here answering questions? “I am the president of the United States!”
What a mess. Dowd shrugged his shoulders at the waste of time, but he saw the full nightmare. It was quite a sight seeing the president of the United States fuming like some aggrieved Shakespearean king.
Trump finally came down from the ceiling and began to regain his composure.
“Mr. President, that’s why you can’t testify,” Dowd said. “I know you believe it. I know you think it. I know you experienced it. But when you’re answering questions. When you’re a fact witness, you try to provide facts. If you don’t know the facts, I’d just prefer you to say, Bob, I just don’t remember. I got too much going on here. Instead of sort of guessing and making all kinds of wild conclusions.”
Then Dowd handed Trump the draft of the letter addressed to Mueller. The subject read “Request for Testimony on Alleged Obstruction of Justice.”
A raw assertion of presidential power was printed in boldface: “He could, if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired.”
Trump read the 22-page letter carefully, pausing to read several paragraphs out loud. He said he loved the letter. “You know, I’ve got a hell of a case here. I love the way it’s organized.” He admired the 59 footnotes.
“This is just one of the best days I’ve ever had in this thing,” he went on. His capacity to cycle between emotions, from low to high, was on full display. “It really is beautiful. I guess it’s everything I ever thought of and better. Now I get it. I see what you’re doing.”
Yeah, Dowd said.
“Let’s push them to the wall. But you don’t want me to testify?”
“No,” Dowd replied. “Why don’t we exhaust this thing? Maybe if push comes to shove, I’ll suggest to Bob, give me the questions. We will answer them. And we’ll make a script. You can come over, ask your questions and he’ll read the answers. How can you complain about that when you’ve trusted us on everything we’ve given? Plus the president cannot possibly remember all this. And by the way, he would love to meet you and talk through this thing, but he needs the assistance [of a script].”
“By God, I’ll do that,” Trump said. “That’s great.”
“Well,” Dowd said, “just imagine if you didn’t have the script.”
“I don’t know, John. We just went through that. You think I was struggling?”
“Yeah, you are. But Mr. President, I don’t blame you. It’s not that you’re lying or you’re bad or anything like that. Given your daily intake—just look what we’ve done this afternoon.”
There had been during their conversation several interruptions, two short briefings on world problems and some classified documents for Trump to sign. How could he remember everything?
“You know,” Dowd continued, “that gets in the way of trying to recollect what happened six months ago or nine months ago.”
“That’s great,” Trump said. “I’m with you. I don’t really want to testify.”
The day after the practice session in the White House, Trump called Dowd. “I slept like a rock,” Trump said. “I love that letter. Can I have a copy?”
“No,” Dowd said.
Dowd had the president where he wanted him.
On Monday, January 29, 2018, Dowd and Sekulow signed the letter. Dowd then arranged to deliver the letter to Quarles on February 1. It would be just like in the movies, Dowd thought. Quarles was to walk down the street and hop into Dowd’s parked car.
They exchanged a few pleasantries and asked about each other’s kids.
“Well, here’s your letter,” Dowd said.
“What’s this?”
“In response to your 16 topics,” Dowd said. “And we kind of make our case. I leave the door open. I’m going to push for some specific questions. Think about it. You want to talk about it, tell Bob let’s get together.”
CHAPTER
41
In a meeting in January 2018, Navarro, Ross, Cohn and Porter gathered in the Oval Office. After months of arguing about tariffs from entrenched positions, debates had become heated and sharp.
Cohn, backed by Porter, rehashed the economic arguments and the geopolitical national security arguments. He talked about how tariffs risked roiling the markets and jeopardizing a lot of the stock market gains. He said the tariffs would be, in effect, a tax on American consumers. Tariffs would take away a lot of the good that Trump had done through tax and regulatory reform.
You’re the globalist, Trump said. I don’t even care what you think anymore, Gary.
Trump shooed him away. Cohn retreated to a couch.
Navarro and Porter picked up the debate, with Ross interjecting on Navarro’s side from time to time. Navarro argued that tariffs would raise revenues and be beloved by businesses and unions. He said it would be a great way for Trump to get union support and help his base in advance of the 2018 midterm election.
Porter brought up the Bush tariffs and the net job loss that had occurred. In the years since, Porter argued, downstream industries that consumed and relied on steel—builders and pipelines and the auto industry—had expanded, while there was little potential for expansion of steel manufacturing and production jobs. The job losses under new tariffs would be even more pronounced than the ones during the Bush administration.
Porter said Navarro’s belief that tariffs would be met with widespread acclaim was “just dead wrong.” Many businesses would oppose tariffs because they were buyers and consumers of steel.
“The automakers are going to hate this,” Porter said. “They have narrow margins, and this is going to raise their costs.” Pipeline makers too. “We’re opening up all of these new federal public lands and offshore drilling. It requires people building pipelines.
“And the unions,” Porter said. “Well, that’s crazy. Sure, the steel union is going to love this, but the United Auto Workers isn’t going
to like this. The Building and Construction Trades isn’t going to like this. It’s going to up their costs.”
Porter ordinarily tried to remain an honest broker who facilitated the discussion. When he had a strong view, he tended to wait until he was one-on-one with the president. Now he was outing himself as a free trader.
Navarro countered each argument as strenuously as Porter made it. Chief of Staff John Kelly walked into the room midway through the meeting. The president was watching the back-and-forth avidly.
What are you, an economist now? Trump asked Porter after he and Navarro had taken verbal swings at each other for nearly half an hour. What do you know about economics? You’re a lawyer.
Porter said he had studied and tutored others in economics while he was at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He pointed out that many of his arguments weren’t strictly economic.
“I always knew Gary was a fucking globalist,” Trump said. “I didn’t know you were such a fucking globalist, Rob.”
Trump turned to Kelly. Get a load of this guy. He’s a globalist!
Kelly nodded and smiled. He wanted this meeting wrapped up.
The meeting broke up without a real resolution except to remind Trump that he had signed a decision memo to move forward on the 301 investigation with China and announced it. That had to come before steel tariffs. That was the strategy and agreement.
* * *
Porter left the White House on February 7 after two ex-wives went public with allegations that he had physically abused them. One released a photo showing a black eye that she said Porter gave her. Each, one to the press and one in a blog post, gave graphic descriptions of domestic abuse.
Porter quickly concluded it would be best for all—his former spouses, his family and close friends, the White House and himself—to resign. He wanted to focus on repairing relationships and healing.
