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International desk: President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that his daughter played no role in the abrupt departure of his top lawyer and pushed back at the notion of a White House in chaos, calling it \u201ca smooth-running machine with changing parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announced departure of White House counsel Don McGahn, who has emerged as a key witness in the Russia probe shadowing his presidency, was the latest in a long string of firings and resignations to buffet Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
The New York Times reported that McGahn was not forewarned before Trump announced Wednesday on Twitter he would be leaving his post this fall.<\/p>\n
The Times said Ivanka Trump had complained bitterly to her father after a report by the newspaper that claimed McGahn\u2019s testimony to Special Counsel
\nRobert Mueller had been far more extensive than the president or his lawyers knew.<\/p>\n
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Trump said Ivanka and her husband, Jared\u00a0Kushner, \u201chad NOTHING to do with the so called \u2018pushing out\u2019 of Don McGahn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fake News Media has it, purposely, so wrong!\u201d Trump tweeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey love to portray chaos in the White House when they know that chaos doesn\u2019t exist-just a \u2018smooth running machine\u2019 with changing parts!\u201d<\/p>\n
McGahn was a witness to several key episodes under scrutiny by Mueller, including Trump\u2019s firing of FBI director James Comey and his tensions with
\nAttorney General Jeff Sessions over his recusal from oversight of the probe.<\/p>\n
Trump has said all his aides had been encouraged to be transparent with the Mueller probe \u2014 which he frequently denounces as rigged against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rigged Russia Witch Hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on Don McGahn!\u201d the president insisted on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Later on Thursday, Trump branded the investigation \u201cillegal\u201d \u2014 despite the fact his own Justice Department says the opposite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI view it as an illegal investigation,\u201d he told Bloomberg News.<\/p>\n
Trump cited unnamed \u201cgreat scholars\u201d who say that \u201cthere never should have been a special counsel,\u201d according to the news agency. \u2013 \u2018Unhinged\u2019 \u2013 The frequent departures of high-level staffers in Trump\u2019s administration have created the impression of a temperamental leader dismissive of discordant voices.<\/p>\n
With less than two years in office, Trump has gone through two National Security Advisers, a Secretary of State and a White House chief of staff to
\nname just a few.<\/p>\n
Former senior White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman released a tell-all book this month after her firing, which painted Trump as a racist and a liar
\nwith a \u201ctotal lack of empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump responded to the book by the former contestant on his reality show \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d whose White House role was unclear, by calling her a \u201cdog\u201d
\nand a \u201ccrazed, crying lowlife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such outbursts have put Trump\u2019s closest aides in the delicate position of trying to explain his Twitter salvos.<\/p>\n
White House press briefings, a daily tradition under previous presidents, have practically disappeared as the administration deals with the constant
\ndrip of revelations.<\/p>\n
The latest? A New York Times story Thursday that claimed Trump sought to purchase all the \u201cdirt\u201d that the National Enquirer, a leading scandal sheet,
\nhad collected on him over the past decades.<\/p>\n
The newspaper, quoting unidentified associates of Trump, said the plan was concocted with Trump\u2019s lawyer, Michael Cohen, who has implicated him in \u201chush
\npayments\u201d made before the 2016 election.<\/p>\n
Cohen agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors this month that included an\u00a0admission that he had made payments to silence two women who claimed to have
\nhad affairs with Trump before he ran for the White House.<\/p>\n
The Times said there was a plan to go even further \u2014 purchasing all of the information collected on Trump since the 1980s by the National Enquirer and
\nits parent company American Media.<\/p>\n
The Times said the scheme, however, was \u201cnever finalized\u201d and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Trump has sought to escape the oppressive environment of Washington by ratcheting up the frequency of campaign-style meetings which he clearly enjoys.<\/p>\n
He is to fly to Evansville, Indiana, on Thursday for what he promised would be a \u201cbig crowd rally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWill be a big night!\u201d he tweeted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International desk: President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that his daughter played no role in the abrupt departure of his top lawyer and pushed back at the notion of a White House in chaos, calling it \u201ca smooth-running machine with changing parts.\u201d The announced departure of White House counsel Don McGahn, who has emerged as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n