Trump and White House Counsel Don McGahn Have Been 'Barely on Speaking Terms'

[DonViejo]

Don McGahn scored a big victory on Wednesday. But it comes amid tensions with his boss.

ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
SAM STEIN
05.03.18 5:27 AM ET

The addition of longtime Washington, D.C., lawyer Emmet Flood to President Trump’s legal team on Wednesday marks a major win for another top legal adviser to the president who has, for months, been operating in the Trumpland version of Siberia.

White House Counsel Don McGahn was chiefly responsible for orchestrating Flood’s hiring and was thrilled when it was formally completed, according to four sources inside and outside the West Wing. That’s in large part because Flood provides McGahn with two things he’s long coveted: an ally on the legal team handling the Russia probe and a potential successor for his own post, which Flood, as part of this arrangement, will be granted in due time.

There is no set date for McGahn’s exit from the White House. But for months now, his position in the administration has been shaky as his relationship with Trump has deteriorated.

Though McGahn is in the room for meetings involving high-profile legal matters (EPA Director Scott Pruitt’s ethics foibles, the Iran nuclear deal, and so on) the two hardly talk directly to each other anymore. One White House official conceded that they are “barely on speaking terms” unless they absolutely have to be.

more
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-white-house-counsel-don-mcgahn-have-been-barely-on-speaking-terms?ref=home

[Gothmog]

1. McGhan wants out

Flood may be his replacement

[enough]

2. Why he stays:

From the article>

It is a difficult task, one that has befuddled McGahn himself. But whereas others have left, the White House counsel has persisted in his post. He has done so partially because he is somewhat walled off from the Russia probe (being a witness to a potential act of obstruction) and partially because he has focused his efforts on other consequential matters.

More than anyone else inside the administration, McGahn is chiefly responsible for the robust effort to stack the judiciary with young, conservative judges.

“President Trump campaigned on the promise to appoint judges in the mold of Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas, and Don McGahn has been instrumental in carrying out that promise,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, said. “The fact that President Trump has appointed a record number of extraordinarily qualified judges so early in his presidency, on top of appointing Justice Gorsuch, is a testament to the work done day-in and day-out by Don McGahn and his team.”

McGahn’s efforts to overhaul the courts have been so aggressive that, at times, it has rankled Republicans on the Hill who occasionally have been openly critical of the quality of nominees he has sent to the Senate. But he is largely considered a driving force behind the most consequential element of the Trump presidency—a fact that makes the discomforts with the president bearable.

[mercuryblues]

3. a moth or so ago

trump kept telling everyone how happy he is with his legal team.

Cobbs -gone
Dowd - gone
DiGenova hired and fired the same day
Not on speaking terms with McGahn

Sure glad he is hapy with them. Can you imagine what would happen to them if trump hated them?

Should we start a pool to see how long Flood lasts?