LEGAL/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A day after announcing the departure of his White House counsel, President Donald Trump teased Thursday [8-30-18] that he’s excited about his choice for a replacement but isn’t ready to share his new lawyer’s name. Trump said Wednesday [8-29-18] on Twitter that Don McGahn will leave in the fall. He has been a consequential insider on Trump’s legal team and a key figure in the administration’s handling of the federal investigation into Russian election interference and possible Trump campaign collusion…Trump also took a shot at reports that McGahn had threatened to resign last year if the president continued to press for the removal of special counsel Robert Mueller as head of the Russia investigation…Trump said Thursday that the Russia investigation was not a factor, ‘even a little bit,’ in his decision about McGahn’s departure. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said at the White House Thursday that Trump will make the announcement about McGahn’s successor. She offered no timetable. McGahn has done ‘a fantastic job as White House counsel,’ she said, mentioning his work on deregulation and the president’s judicial nominees.”
–The Associated Press, “Trump Teases About Successor to White House Counsel,” The New York Times online, August 30, 2018