Furious Trump calls New York Times report into how he tried to smother investigations including Mueller's 'false' and blasts the paper as 'ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!'

  • President Trump blasted the New York Times as the 'enemy of the people' after its bombshell report on how he tried to smother federal investigations
  • The Times reported he asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if a U.S. attorney loyal to him could lead hush money probe into payoffs to women
  • 'The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!,' President Trump tweeted Wednesday morning
  • In response, New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said 'the phrase 'enemy of the people' is not just false, it's dangerous. It has an ugly history of being wielded by dictators and tyrants who sought to control public information.'
  • Democrats pounced on the bombshell report with one lawmaker saying if it were true then Trump was unfit to serve as president and should resign 
  • Whitaker knew Geoffrey Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, had already recused himself from the matter
  • Trump was referring to the investigation into hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal 
  • Trump eventually soured on Whitaker
  • But now House Democrats want to know if Whitaker lied to them when he said Trump hadn't pressured him about any of the federal probes
  • William Barr was confirmed as the new attorney general last week
  • Rank-and-file at Justice hope he can improve relations with Trump 

President Donald Trump on Wednesday slammed a New York Times report he asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if a U.S. attorney who was loyal to him could oversee the investigation into hush money payments as 'false' and proclaimed the newspaper the 'enemy of the people.'

'The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!,' Trump tweeted.

Democrats pounced on the bombshell report from The New York Times  with one lawmaker saying, if it were true, Trump was unfit for office and should resign.  

President Trump slammed a New York Times report as 'false'

President Trump slammed a New York Times report as 'false'

President Donald Trump asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if a U.S. attorney he appointed could oversee a hush money probe

President Donald Trump asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if a U.S. attorney he appointed could oversee a hush money probe

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker testifying before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker testifying before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month

Trump wanted Geoffrey Berman (center), the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, to oversee the hush money investigation

Trump wanted Geoffrey Berman (center), the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, to oversee the hush money investigation

'If this disturbing New York Times report is accurate, then the President of the United States committed obstruction of justice,' Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell said in a statement. 

'That the President would seek to impede a criminal investigation in his home Manhattan makes abundantly clear, yet again, that Congress must see his business and personal tax records. Any leader of this nation that seeks to tamper with a criminal investigation is unfit to serve and must resign.' 

Additional revelations in Times report 

The New York Times report on President Trump's reaction to the federal probes contained other interesting tidbits: 

Sean Spicer Implicated 

President Trump told then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer to say he asked for then National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to resign.

Spicer asked if that were true. 

'Say that I asked for his resignation,' Trump told him in response. 

Additionally, the White House Counsel's office found that Spicer overstated how much the White House had investigated Flynn and incorrectly stated the administration lawyers had concluded there were no legal issues around Flynn's conduct. 

Pardon Offers

One of Trump's lawyers reached out to attorneys for Flynn and former campaign manager Paul Manafort to discuss possible pardons.

The move raised the question of whether Trump was willing to offer pardons to influence their decisions about whether to plead guilty and cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller. Both ended up doing so.

GOP Lawmakers To The Rescue

Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows and Devin Nunes - staunch Trump allies - decided to investigate the investigators after GOP leaders praised Mueller's appointment as special counsel.

With the GOP in control of the House at that time, they were able to use their oversight powers to force open some sensitive government files - including wiretaps and the existence of an FBI informant - that were part of the Russia inquiry.

They also got the private texts between then-FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were part of the Clinton email investigation, and were able to help Trump's legal team question the credibility of the investigations.

Legal Aid

Kevin Downing, the attorney for Manafort, shared with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani the line of questioning the special counsel's team asked Manafort and angered Mueller's team when he did so.

Cohen Raid

When federal agents raided then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen's office and home in April, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told the president it had to do with Cohen's business practices.

Instead the information retrieved led to Cohen admitting to arranging hush money payments to women in the 2016 campaign.

Trump has asked his advisers if Rosenstein was deliberately misleading him to keep him calm. 

Advertisement

And Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the report on Trump's actions is part of a 'pattern of obstruction.'

'Dangling pardons. Attempting to get a prosecutor to unrecuse. Threatening a cooperating witness. False public statements. Encouraging congressional allies to investigate the investigators to protect him. All of it a pattern of obstruction. All of it dangerous to the rule of law,' he wrote on Twitter.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger responded that all presidents 'had complaints about their coverage and at times took advantage of the freedom every American has to criticize journalists.'

He added in a statement: 'But in demonizing the free press as the enemy, simply for performing its role of asking difficult questions and bringing uncomfortable information to light, President Trump is retreating from a distinctly American principle. It's a principle that previous occupants of the Oval Office fiercely defended regardless of their politics, party affiliation, or complaints about how they were covered.'

Sulzberger said 'the phrase 'enemy of the people' is not just false, it's dangerous. It has an ugly history of being wielded by dictators and tyrants who sought to control public information. And it is particularly reckless coming from someone whose office gives him broad powers to fight or imprison the nation's enemies. As I have repeatedly told President Trump face to face, there are mounting signs that this incendiary rhetoric is encouraging threats and violence against journalists at home and abroad.'

'Through 33 presidential administrations, across 167 years, The New York Times has worked to serve the public by fulfilling the fundamental role of the free press. To help people, regardless of their backgrounds or politics, understand their country and the world. To report independently, fairly and accurately. To ask hard questions. To pursue the truth wherever it leads. That will not change,' he concluded.

The New York Times report detailed how Trump asked Whitaker if Geoffrey Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally who the president appointed to the job, could be put in charge of the federal prosecutors looking into the president's role in paying off women during the 2016 campaign. 

Berman had already recused himself from overseeing the investigation and it's unclear what Whitaker did next. 

Trump, however, soured on him the way he soured on Whitaker's predecessor, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, after Sessions recused himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. 

Sessions became a target of Trump's fury and a frequent object of humiliation as the president publicly said he wished he hadn't appointed him and issued multiple tweets attacking his management of the Justice Department.

Sessions resigned after the midterms and Whitaker was named acting attorney general by Trump, who has made it clear he expects loyalty from those he puts in positions of power.  

The inquiry into the hush money payments is run by Robert Khuzami, a career prosecutor who took over after Berman recused himself from the probe due to a conflict of interest. 

There is no evidence Whitaker intervened, The Times reported, but he did tell some associates at the Justice Department that the prosecutors in New York required 'adult supervision.' 

Last month, in his first and last congressional testimony as acting attorney general, Whitaker told the House Judiciary Committee the president had never pressured him over the various investigations focused on his conduct in the 2016 presidential race. 

House Democrats are now looking into whether Whitaker committed perjury.  

'Very concerning @NYTimes report about the President's conduct. One of the many reasons why Matthew Whitaker must come back to @HouseJudiciary to clarify his testimony,' panel chairman Jerry Nadler tweeted on Tuesday. 

President Trump denied the New York Times report on Tuesday.

'No, I don't know who gave you that,' he told reporters in the Oval Office. 

'I have a lot of respect for Mr. Whitaker. I think he's done a great job. Very very straight shooter,' he added.

A Justice Department spokeswoman also said the White House had not asked Whitaker to interfere. 

'Under oath to the House Judiciary Committee, then-Acting Attorney General Whitaker stated that 'at no time has the White House asked for nor have I provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation,' spokeswoman Kerri Kupec told The Times. 'Mr. Whitaker stands by his testimony.'

Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the report on Trump's actions is part of a 'pattern of obstruction'

Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the report on Trump's actions is part of a 'pattern of obstruction'

William Barr was confirmed as the new attorney general last week

William Barr was confirmed as the new attorney general last week

Attorney General William Barr was confirmed last week and now heads the Justice Department. 

Barr wrote a memo last summer arguing a sitting president cannot be charged with obstruction of justice for acts well within his power - like firing an F.B.I. director. 

And, the newspaper reported, rank-and-file at Justice hope Barr's good relations with Trump can help displace some of the fire the president has thrown at them and the FBI. 

The president is the focus of three federal investigations: Mueller's probe of whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election and two investigations being run out of the Southern District of New York: one focusing on the hush money payments made or arranged by then-Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen, and another examining the flow of foreign money to the Trump inaugural committee. 

Cohen was the central figure in a plot to buy the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006. 

Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 from Cohen, a transaction that he admitted was a violation of campaign finance laws since it amounted to an illegally large contribution benefiting Trump's White House hopes. 

Robert Mueller
Jerry Nadler

Trump is the focus of multiple investigations including special counsel Robert Mueller's (left) Russia probe and House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (right)

Nadler said his Judiciary panel needs to hear from Whitaker again

Nadler said his Judiciary panel needs to hear from Whitaker again

He said in court that Trump directed him to make the payment, suggesting the president was guilty of a crime. 

In August Cohen pleaded guilty to eight separate charges related to tax dodges, falsifying bank documents and the campaign finance violations involving Daniels and another woman, former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal.

Cohen claims that at Trump's request, he arranged for the publisher of The National Enquirer to pay McDougal – another self-described past Trump paramour – for the exclusive rights to her life story. The magazine never published anything, engaging in a practice known as 'catch and kill' in order to help Trump avoid new scandals in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign. 

Trump has denied ever having a sexual relationship with either Daniels or McDougal.   

Additionally, House Democrats are conducting their own presidential probes that include the role Russia played in the 2016 election but also focusing on Trump's immigration policy, security clearances for administration staff, and possible conflicts of interest.

Trump previously tried to influence the direction of investigations against him.

He fired FBI director James Comey in May after becoming frustrated Comey refused to say publicly that the president was not under investigation. 

Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer, plead guilty to arranging hush money payments

Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer, plead guilty to arranging hush money payments

Stormy Daniels
Karen McDougal

Cohen also played a role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels (left) and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal (right)

A week later The New York Times reported Trump had asked Comey to end the investigation into his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and what meetings Flynn had with Russian officials.

The next day Mueller was appointed special counsel. 

The president's defenders argue he is acting in his role as head of the executive branch and additionally point out the president has been so public in his arder against his investigators that there couldn't possibly be a conspiracy.

One of Trump's favorite arguments - that he repeatedly tweets - is that he is the victim of a 'witch hunt.' 

The Times report was part of a long look the paper conducted into the president's behavior during the investigations against him.  

 

The comments below have not been moderated.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.