Maggie Haberman Profile picture
Dec 19, 2020 12 tweets 3 min read Read on X
SCOOP - Sidney Powell was in Oval Office last night as POTUS discussed making her special counsel for election fraud. @KannoYoungs and me nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/…
Among those pushing back on the idea was Pat Cipollone, Meadows and even Giuliani. But Giuliani separately pushed DHS this week to seize control of voting machines to examine them for possible fraud. DHS said it has no authority to do that. nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/…
The meeting got raucous, with various administration members drifting in and out and different people arguing. Powell told others they were quitters, people people briefed on the meeting nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/…
The fact of the meeting - and Giuliani hope of seizing the voting machines - has alarmed some of the president's advisers, who see his desire to take his refusal to accept the election results as in a dangerous new place nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/…
Meadows and Cipollone strenuously and repeatedly objected to these suggestions, saying there was no constitutional basis, according to the people briefed.
One person floated an executive order to seize the voting machines. That was also shot down by Cipollone, per the people briefed.
Adding to the story but two people briefed said Flynn was there as well for this meeting.
During the meeting, the president asked about Flynn’s suggestion of deploying the military, those briefed said. That was also shot down.
MORE - POTUS asked about possibility of Powell being given security clearances to pursue her theories, per people briefed on the meeting.
In the president's mind, "special counsel" is what DoJ made happen with Mueller, but what was being discussed was Powell working inside the White House - and Trump came very close to hiring her, per multiple people briefed.
"Ms. Powell’s ideas were shot down by every other Trump adviser present, all of whom repeatedly pointed out that she had yet to back up her claims with proof." nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/…
"At one point, one person briefed on the meeting said, she produced several affidavits, but upon inspection they were all signed by a man she has previously used as an expert witness, whose credentials have been called into question." nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/…

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More from @maggieNYT

Jul 23, 2023
Fundraising that didn’t meet expectations and spending that was profligate. A campaign manager now under fire. And a candidate for a second time in weeks expected to engage with a mainstream media he has disdained. ⁦@ShaneGoldmacher⁩ and me nytimes.com/2023/07/23/us/…
The bizarre anti LGBT video that appeared to have been picked up by DeSantis War Room from a friendly Twitter user was actually made by a campaign aide and made to look like it came from elsewhere, a person w knowledge of what happened said nytimes.com/2023/07/23/us/…
That the campaign did not hit expected fund-raising targets — and spent exorbitantly — caught the candidate and his wife by surprise, a person with knowledge of their reactions said. nytimes.com/2023/07/23/us/…
Read 4 tweets
Jun 7, 2023
Trump tells me minutes ago he has NOT been told he’s getting indicted, when contacted. “It’s not true,” he said, adding again he hasn’t done anything wrong.
Trump statement came amid a report from one of his allies that he has been told this. NYT, CNN, WaPo and other outlets have all reported federal officials have been building toward a likely indictment, including with witnesses in Miami before a grand jury today.
When I asked if he had been told he’s a target, he demurred, saying he doesn’t talk directly to prosecutors.
Read 5 tweets
May 25, 2023
Confirming WaPo from earlier, @alanfeuer and me on Trump aide Walt Nauta getting an assist from a Mar-a-Lago worker moving boxes back into the storage room shortly before Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran began a search of what was there nytimes.com/2023/05/25/us/…
Corcoran, who believed he didn't have proper clearance to transport the documents himself, called DOJ that night to arrange for them to come get them. nytimes.com/2023/05/25/us/…
The detail is notable as part of a larger puzzle that prosecutors have put together about whether Trump improperly retained national defense information and whether there is a pattern of him obstructing the DOJ investigation over many months nytimes.com/2023/05/25/us/…
Read 6 tweets
Apr 12, 2023
Jack Smith’s team has been drilling down in interviews about a map with sensitive intelligence that they’ve questioned whether Trump showed people aboard a plane or showed an adviser, Adam Goldman ⁦@alanfeuer⁩ me nytimes.com/2023/04/12/us/…
They also been asking details about his travel schedule around the time of the May 2022 subpoena and whether he scheduled it to be present after the subpoena was issued nytimes.com/2023/04/12/us/…
Judge Howell, in a memorandum of law accompanying her ruling that a Trump lawyer needed to testify about discussions with Trump, made clear she saw Trump “misdirection”with NARA as a “dress rehearsal” for the later subpoena nytimes.com/2023/04/12/us/…
Read 4 tweets
Apr 4, 2023
Trump accompanied by lawyers Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, as well as adviser Jason Miller and aide Walt Nauta, per person briefed.
Trump was fingerprinted a person familiar with events said but not mugshotted. But people fundraising in his name aren’t wasting the opportunity and made their own mugshot, as this email that just landed shows
Joe Tacopina and Boris Ephsteyn also with Trump. Trump did not stop to address the camera, after weighing saying something ahead of time.
Read 4 tweets
Apr 1, 2023
Trump's time-tested strategy in legal cases, most of them civil, is attack and delay. It's unclear if it will be the same here: one of the lawyers involved in some of his cases suggested it could change @WRashbaum @charlie_savage @Jonesieman me nytimes.com/2023/04/01/nyr…
When he was under investigation for possible obstruction of justice in the Mueller case (Mueller made clear he wouldn't challenge Justice Dept policy re a sitting potus) Trump talked about the case a lot, including tweets treated as possible obstruction nytimes.com/2023/04/01/nyr…
One string of tweets was about @MichaelCohen212, whose home and office had just been searched by FBI, attacking my story noting Trump's definition of loyalty historically ran one way and raising questions about whether Cohen could become a cooperator. nytimes.com/2023/04/01/nyr…
Read 4 tweets

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