President Donald Trump insisted again Sunday that he had authorized White House counsel Don McGahn and other staffers to "fully cooperate" with the investigation into alleged collusion between his campaign and Moscow.
"The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type “RAT,” Trump wrote on Twitter. "But I allowed him and all others to testify - I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide and have demanded transparency so that this Rigged and Disgusting Witch Hunt can come to a close," he continued, misspelling "counsel."
"So many lives have been ruined over nothing - McCarthyism at its WORST! Yet Mueller & his gang of Dems refuse to look at the real crimes on the other side - Media is even worse!"
Trump's remarks came after The New York Times reported Saturday that McGahn had "cooperated extensively" with the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, taking part in at least three interviews with investigators totaling 30 hours.
"I allowed White House Counsel Don McGahn, and all other requested members of the White House Staff, to fully cooperate with the Special Counsel," Trump tweeted on Saturday.
"In addition we readily gave over one million pages of documents. Most transparent in history. No Collusion, No Obstruction. Witch Hunt!"
Meanwhile, Dean, the White House counsel who suspected he was being used as a scapegoat for Watergate and was eventually fired by President Richard Nixon, said Saturday that he thought McGahn was doing the right thing.
"McGahn is doing right!" Dean tweeted Saturday night.
He added Sunday in response to Trump's tweets that he doubts the president has "ANY IDEA what McGahn has told Mueller. Also, Nixon knew I was meeting with prosecutors, b/c I told him. However, he didn't think I would tell them the truth!"
Trump continued tweeting on Sunday morning, again calling the American press corps the "the enemy of the people."
"The Failing New York Times wrote a story that made it seem like the White House Councel had TURNED on the President, when in fact it is just the opposite - & the two Fake reporters knew this," he wrote. "This is why the Fake News Media has become the Enemy of the People. So bad for America!
"Some members of the media are very Angry at the Fake Story in the New York Times. They actually called to complain and apologize - a big step forward. From the day I announced, the Times has been Fake News, and with their disgusting new Board Member, it will only get worse!
"Study the late Joseph McCarthy, because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that make Joseph McCarthy look like a baby! Rigged Witch Hunt!," the president wrote.
Trump views the investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller as a stain on his presidency, and has repeatedly pushed for it to be ended.
Citing a dozen current and former White House officials and others briefed on the matter, the newspaper said McGahn had shared information, some of which the investigators would not have known about.
McGahn voluntarily cooperated with Mueller’s team as a regular witness, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the White House asked many staffers to do. He was not subpoenaed nor did he speak to them under any kind of proffer or cooperation agreement.
The person also said he did not believe McGahn provided Mueller with incriminating information about Trump. McGahn provided the facts but nothing he saw or heard amounts to obstruction of justice by Trump, the person told Reuters.
According to the New York Times, McGahn in at least three voluntary interviews with investigators that totaled 30 hours over the past nine months, described Trump's furor toward the Russia investigation and the ways in which the president urged McGahn to respond to it.
The newspaper reported McGahn's motivation to speak with the special counsel as an unusual move that was in response to a decision by Trump's first team of lawyers to cooperate fully. But it said another motivation was McGahn's fear he could be placed in legal jeopardy because of decisions made in the White House that could be construed as obstruction of justice.
McGahn, the newspaper said, shared information on Trump's comments and actions during the firing of the F.B.I. director, James Comey, and the president's obsession with putting a loyalist in charge of the inquiry, including his repeated urging of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to claim oversight of it.
The newspaper said McGahn was also centrally involved in Trump's attempts to fire the special counsel, Robert Mueller, which investigators might not have discovered without him.
McGahn cautioned to investigators he never saw Trump go beyond his legal authorities.
The New York Times said in a tweet that it stands by the story.
Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Trump didn't raise executive privilege or attorney-client privilege during those interviews because his team believed — he says now, wrongly — that fully participating would be the fastest way to bring the investigation to a close.
"The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president," Giuliani said.
A source close to the president told Reuters on Saturday the extent of McGahn's cooperation was “a tactical or strategic mistake” instigated by Trump’s first legal team and it should not have been allowed to happen because McGahn should have been covered by executive privilege. The person also said Trump is not worried because he does not feel he did anything wrong.
One lawyer familiar with the matter said McGahn could have been subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury if he did not cooperate with Mueller voluntarily and might have lost legal battles if he tried to invoke executive privilege.
William Burck, McGahn's personal lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's former personal lawyer, John Dowd, told Reuters on Saturday he was aware McGahn had spoken extensively with Mueller's team.
"Lot to cover," Dowd said in text message. "Did a great job. McGahn was a strong witness for the President according to Burck and debriefs of DM (Donald McGahn). Not aware of any of the alleged apprehensions manufactured by the NYT."
Dowd said a decision was made by the president's legal team for McGahn to cooperate with the investigation.
Rudy Giuliani, who joined the president’s outside legal team after Dowd resigned, told Reuters on Saturday that Trump’s lawyers had been in contact with McGahn's counsel after he was interviewed and possessed “emails that say he provided nothing that was damaging or incriminating to the president.”
Giuliani said McGahn's cooperation with Mueller was part of a legal strategy. As an officer of the court, he added, McGahn would have had to resign if he thought the president did anything illegal.
Giuliani said he did not believe McGahn was cooperating against the president, noting Trump's lawyers and McGahn's have a joint defense agreement that would have otherwise ended.
Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who resigned in May after joining the administration last summer to assist the president with the Russia probe, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment.
Trump has repeatedly denounced the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Moscow as a "witch hunt."
“The president and Don have a great relationship,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said in a statement. “He appreciates all the hard work he’s done, particularly his help and expertise with the judges, and the Supreme Court” nominees. Others in the White House have described the relationship as strained.
Material from Reuters and AFP was used in this story.