Working for a president under investigation
President Trump is facing an unprecedented test in the form of a special counsel investigation. Robert Mueller inhabits a very different world than Trump — a world built on a foundation of facts, in which Mueller can prosecute anyone who lies to him.
I was working in the White House in 1994 when Ken Starr was appointed independent counsel to investigate President Clinton’s investment in the Whitewater real estate development. I was also there four-anda-half years later when Clinton was impeached as a result of charges stemming from that investigation. As we learned, these investigations can take on a life, direction and scope of their own.
Trump will find that Mueller isn’t just an investigator. He will be a shadow tracking Trump and his staff ’s every move. He is charged with investigating links with Russia, and any matters that “arose or may arise from the investigation.” This means Mueller will look into Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey and have latitude to pursue, and prosecute, any wrongdoing that he might encounter along the way.
Having worked in a White House under investigation, I know from experience that it’s even more disorienting than it appears. No one in a position of authority at the White House tells you what is happening. No one knows. Your closest colleague could be under investigation and you would not know. You could be under investigation and not know. It can be impossible to stay focused on your job.
There will be other collateral damage. In the Clinton White House, we tried hard to isolate the team of lawyers working on impeachment so President Clinton and his staff could continue advancing their policy goals. Yet Congress was consumed with impeachment for months, and it was nearly impossible to get anything done.
Similarly, it is hard to imagine the Trump White House making much progress on health care or tax legislation. Leaks from the investigation will continue to happen, there will be hearings with Comey and others on Capitol Hill, and the president himself seems determined to exacerbate his problems with ill-considered tweets, statements and actions.
Mueller’s investigation could force reckonings Trump has long managed to escape. He is the only president in the past four decades who has refused to make his tax data public. As establishing the extent of his financial connections to Russia will be an issue in the investigation, it seems likely tax returns will have to be handed over. Of more consequence, Trump will likely be interviewed by Mueller. If Trump lies in an interview — and let’s be real, based on history chances are high that he will — he can be prosecuted.
How damaging this investigation will ultimately be to Trump remains to be seen. But it is thanks to the genius of our system of checks and balances that, at a minimum, we know this president will be forced to reckon with the truth.