DID TRUMP TAMPER WITH A WITNESS IN MUELLER INVESTIGATION?

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Miriam Raftery

Judicial nominee Brett J. Talley failed to disclose that his wife, a White House lawyer, is a witness in the Mueller investigation

November 14, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – A former White House ethics lawyer is accusing President Donald Trump of tampering with a witness in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia and whether Trump has obstructed justice.

The witness, attorney Ann Donaldson, is chief of staff to the White House counsel Donald McGahn II and she has been interviewed by Mueller’s investigators about her conversations with McGahn and Trump’s firing of former FBI director James Comey, the New York Times reports.  Tampering with a witness is a federal crime.

Trump has appointed Donaldson’s husband, Brett Talley, to be a federal district judge in Alabama. Talley has never tried a single case.  He did serve as a deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department.  In a rare unanimous vote, the American Bar Association has rated Talley “not qualified.” 

Talley faces confirmation hearings in the Senate, where he was not truthful on his Senate questionnaire.  Asked about family members who are “likely to present potential conflicts of interest,” he did not mention his wife.  He also failed to mention her work for the White House Chief Counsel when asked to disclose contacts with White House lawyers, Law and Crime reports.

As a federal district judge, he could be asked to rule on cases challenging presidential actions, as when judges in multiple states blocked Trump’s travel ban. 

Norman Eisen is a former White House chief ethics lawyer who is now chairman of the board at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

On Tuesday, he sent a series of tweets blasting Trump’s appointment of Talley and the administration’s efforts to obscure the judicial nominee’s marriage to a White House lawyer and witness in the Mueller probe.

Eisen Tweeted that these actions amount to “not just nepotism, but also potential CONFLICT OF INTREST &/or WITNESS TAMPERING: a Trump reward to the unqualified family member of a witness in the Mueller investigation,” adding, “No wonder they tried to hide the relationship. This should be reviewed by the federal counsel.”

SOURCES:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/us/politics/trump-judge-brett-talley-nomination.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/fmr-white-house-lawyer-trump-may-be-witness-tampering-with-nomination-of-federal-judge/


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.