Trump says White House counsel McGahn will leave in the fall

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Wednesday that White House Counsel Don McGahn will step down from his post in the fall — the announcement coming nearly two weeks after news reports emerged that McGahn had cooperated extensively with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.

“White House Counsel Don McGahn will be leaving his position in the fall, shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!”

McGahn played a key role in pushing Trump to select Kavanaugh to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, and was also instrumental in ushering the successful nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court last year and a number of other conservative judges to the federal bench.

The announcement came as a surprise to McGahn, according to The Washington Post. The lawyer had privately signaled that he was preparing to leave, but wanted to wait until after Kavanaugh’s confirmation process to declare his departure.

Earlier in the month, McGahn was thrust into the spotlight when The New York Times reported that he had provided Mueller with at least 30 hours of testimony over the past nine months, as Mueller continues to investigate purported ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives during the 2016 campaign season.

McGahn, according to the Times, voluntarily sat down with Mueller’s team on at least three occasions to “protect himself,” believing that Trump was setting him up to take the fall for alleged obstruction of justice charges.

McGahn reportedly offered up insights into the president’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey, which Trump has said was due in part to Comey’s handling of the Russia investigation. McGahn also reportedly provided details on the president’s repeated calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to assert control over the special counsel probe, despite Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation last year over possible conflicts of interest.

Trump pushed back against the report at the time, tweeting that he had authorized McGahn to speak with investigators and said McGahn was not a “John Dean type ‘RAT,’” referring to former President Richard Nixon’s attorney who eventually cooperated with federal prosecutors during the Watergate trial.

Asked Wednesday if he was concerned by McGahn’s testimony to Mueller, Trump told reporters at the White House, “no,” adding that “we do everything straight. We do everything by the book.”

Republican lawmakers were surprised by news of McGahn’s pending departure.

Hours after the president’s tweet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said in a statement, “it will be sad news for our country,” if news of McGahn’s departure was true.

“Don is the most impressive White House Counsel during my time in Washington, and I’ve known them all. His departure from the White House, whenever that may be, would be a big loss for the Trump Administration and the country,” McConnell said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, called on Trump to keep McGahn in his post.

“I hope it’s not true McGahn is leaving White House Counsel. U can’t let that happen,” Grassley wrote in a tweet directed at Trump.