[HOT AIR] Thus opens a new can of worms. Assuming there is an order, does this amount to White House interference with an ongoing DOJ investigation?
But a senior White House official said that Donald F. McGahn II, the president’s chief counsel, was working to secure access to what Mr. McGahn believed to be an order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing some form of surveillance related to Mr. Trump and his associates.
The official offered no evidence to support the notion that such an order exists. It would be a highly unusual breach of the Justice Department’s traditional independence on law enforcement matters for the White House to order it to turn over such an investigative document.
Any request for information from a top White House official about a continuing investigation would be a stunning departure from protocols intended to insulate the F.B.I. from political pressure. Another question: How does this square with the White House’s new position that Congress should investigate wiretapping as part of its Russia probe and that it’ll have no further comment on the matter? Does that mean McGahn is giving up his search for the order, or does it mean he discovered that there is no order and this is his and Trump’s way of punting?
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