‘Why in the world would you want to put your enemy on the payroll?’ said one adviser close to the White House.
The Trump campaign has hired its own in-house attorney for its 2020 reelection bid — shifting future business away from Jones Day, the law firm, that has represented Trump since his first run for president.
Campaign officials and advisers cast the decision to hire Nathan Groth — a former lawyer for the Republican National Committee and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — as a money-saving move, supported by the businessman-turned-president who loves to cut costs.
But close Trump advisers say the decision also stems from disappointment with the White House’s former top attorney and current Jones Day partner, Don McGahn, whose behavior has irked the president and some of his family members.
Taking business away from Jones Day is payback, these advisers say, for McGahn’s soured relationship with the Trump family and a handful articles in high-profile newspapers that the family blames, unfairly or not, on the former White House counsel.
“Why in the world would you want to put your enemy on the payroll?” said one adviser close to the White House. “They do not want to reward his firm. Trump arrived at that point long ago, but the security clearance memo stories put a fine point on it.”
One February 2019 story, in particular, caught the White House’s attention, when The New York Times reported that the president ordered John Kelly, his chief of staff at the time, to grant a security clearance to Jared Kushner. Kelly had written an internal memo on it, according to the Times. That fact was closely held inside the White House, and few officials other than Kelly and McGahn knew, say two close White House advisers — and the administration blamed McGahn for the leak.
……
- Discussion
-
The Trump campaign is shifting away from the law firm of former White House counsel Don McGahn — a move some advisers say is payback for McGahn's soured relationship with the Trump familyhttps://t.co/L3REMqQrlp
— POLITICO (@politico) April 20, 2019
There always has to be a target, a scapegoat, someone to blame and to focus Trump supporters’ hatred on. Nothing is ever Trump’s fault or Trump’s doing. I guess McGahn didn’t want to do things foe Trump that were illegal. He did not want to get caught, then go down for crimes, while his client walked. Trump doesn’t like it when someone won’t take a bullet for him.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.