Later that month, Dowd told Trump: “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.” But Trump, concerned about the optics of a president refusing to testify and convinced that he could handle Mueller’s questions, had by then decided otherwise.
"Our committee is certain that Donald Trump does not want Mr. Cipollone to testify here. Indeed, our evidence shows that Mr. Cipollone and his office tried to do what was right. They tried to stop a number of President Trump's plans for January 6," said Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who serves as vice chair of the House January 6 committee.
Trump failed, according to Dowd, but the President still insisted he should testify. Woodward writes that Dowd saw the “full nightmare” of a potential Mueller interview, and felt Trump acted like an “aggrieved Shakespearean king.”
Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said he would testify about Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ official who outlined ways for Trump to challenge the 2020 election. Rep. Liz Cheney said the "American people deserve to hear from Mr. Cipollone personally." As White House counsel, Pat Cipollone pushed back against Trump's schemes to undo the 2020 election.
Former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn is reported to have stolen a letter off Trump’s desk that would have withdrawn the U.S. from a trade deal with South Korea, and hinted to former aide Rob Porter that he would do the same for any deal nixing NAFTA (“I can stop this.
According to CNN’s report on the 448-page book, Trump’s then-personal attorney John Dowd became convinced that Trump could not be allowed to speak to Robert Mueller because the president would inevitably perjure himself. Trump, as has been previously reported, rebelled, insisting that he could exonerate himself if only he could testify with ...
Dowd is practically pleading with Mueller to think of the greater good: if foreign leaders read Trump’s testimony, he suggests, it would be impossible for them not to conclude that he is unfit for office. On Tuesday, both Dowd and Sekulow denied Woodward’s account of their meeting with Mueller.
According to Woodward’s new book, John Dowd argued that Trump’s pathology guaranteed he would commit perjury— and that his ignorance, if revealed, could be a national-security threat. Save this story for later. By Kevin Lamarque/Reuters.
That’s his nature,” Dowd reportedly told Mueller. (In an interview with the Daily Caller shortly after parts of Fear were leaked, Trump attacked Woodward in a manner characteristic with Dowd’s alleged statement, accusing the Watergate reporter of having ”lot of credibility problems.”)
On Tuesday, both Dowd and Sekulow denied Woodward’s account of their meeting with Mueller. But Dowd’s urge to protect Trump from himself—and thereby protect the country from Trump—is more than just anecdotal. It is, in fact, the central theme running throughout Fear.