HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142.jpg
2.1 MB
Extraction Summary
9
People
4
Organizations
2
Locations
2
Events
3
Relationships
6
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Book excerpt (evidence in congressional oversight)
File Size:
2.1 MB
Summary
This document is a scanned excerpt (pages 36-37) from Michael Wolff's book 'Siege,' bearing a House Oversight Bates stamp. It details Steve Bannon's strategy to delay the Mueller investigation by urging President Trump to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and assert retroactive executive privilege. The text recounts Bannon leaking this plan to journalist Robert Costa to influence the President, Trump's subsequent interaction with Jared Kushner regarding the plan, and Trump mocking Kushner's cautious response. Note: While the prompt identifies this as 'Epstein-related,' the visible text focuses exclusively on the Trump administration and the Russia investigation, with no direct mention of Jeffrey Epstein.
People (9)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Trump | President of the United States |
Subject of Bannon's strategy; discussing firing Rosenstein and claiming executive privilege.
|
| Steve Bannon | Former Chief Strategist / Advisor |
Proposing a plan to delay the Mueller investigation by firing Rosenstein and claiming retroactive executive privilege.
|
| Rod Rosenstein | Deputy Attorney General (DAG) |
Target of potential firing by Trump to stop the Mueller investigation.
|
| Robert Costa | Journalist (Washington Post) |
Recipient of Bannon's leak/strategy; wrote a story about Bannon's plan.
|
| Jared Kushner | Senior Advisor / Son-in-law |
Advised Trump to move cautiously regarding Rosenstein; mocked by Trump.
|
| Michael Cohen | Personal Lawyer to Trump |
Mentioned by Bannon regarding legal pressure ('As soon as they went to Cohen').
|
| Robert Mueller | Special Counsel |
Overseeing the investigation Bannon is trying to disrupt.
|
| James Comey | Former FBI Director |
Mentioned in reference to his firing.
|
| Michael Wolff | Author |
Author of the book 'Siege' from which this text is taken.
|
Organizations (4)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Washington Post |
Media outlet used by Bannon to pitch his plan to the president.
|
|
| Supreme Court |
Mentioned as the ultimate destination for the legal battle over executive privilege.
|
|
| West Wing |
Location of aides Bannon was pitching his plan to.
|
|
| Oval Office |
Where Bannon's plan was received.
|
Timeline (2 events)
Contextual
Contextual (2017/2018)
Publication of Robert Costa's story regarding Bannon's plan to stop the Russia probe.
Washington Post (Online)
Locations (2)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
|
White House, Washington D.C.
|
|
|
White House, Washington D.C.
|
Relationships (3)
Bannon pitching plans to Trump via the Washington Post.
Kushner advising Trump; Trump mocking Kushner behind his back ('What a girl!').
Bannon speaking directly and at length to Costa.
Key Quotes (6)
"Firing Rosenstein is our only way out of here."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142.jpg
Quote #1
"I don't come to this lightly. As soon as they went to Cohen—that's what they do in Mob prosecutions to get a response from the true target."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142.jpg
Quote #2
"Delay, delay, delay—and shift it politically."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142.jpg
Quote #3
"It's not perfect . . . but we live in a world of imperfect."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142.jpg
Quote #4
"Jared is spooked... What a girl!"Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142.jpg
Quote #5
"Just don't pay attention to his crazy shit"Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142.jpg
Quote #6
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,990 characters)
36 MICHAEL WOLFF
Trump's stupidity, said Bannon, could sometimes be made into a virtue. Here was Bannon's idea: the president should make a retroactive claim of executive privilege. I didn't know. Nobody told me. I was ill-advised.
It was hard not to see Bannon's satisfaction in a prostrate Trump admitting to his own lack of guile and artfulness.
Bannon understood that this claim of retroactive executive privilege would have no chance of success—nor should it. But the sheer audacity of it could buy them four or five months of legal delay. Delay was their friend, possibly their only friend. They could work this claim of retroactive executive privilege, no matter how loopy, all the way to the Supreme Court.
For this plan to work, the president would have to get rid of his inept lawyers. Oh, and he would also have to fire Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who was overseeing the Mueller investigation. Bannon had been against the firing of Comey, and in the months after the appointment of the special counsel, he had fought the president's almost daily impulse to fire Mueller and Rosenstein, seeing this as the surest invitation to impeachment. ("Just don't pay attention to his crazy shit," he had urged everyone around the president.) But now they had run out of options.
"Firing Rosenstein is our only way out of here," Bannon told Costa. "I don't come to this lightly. As soon as they went to Cohen—that's what they do in Mob prosecutions to get a response from the true target. So you can sit there and get bled out—get indicted, go to grand juries—or you can fight it politically. Get it out of the law-and-order system where we are losing and are going to lose. A new DAG will review where we stand on this thing, which could take a couple of months. Delay, delay, delay—and shift it politically. Can we win? I have no fucking idea. But I know on that other path I'm going to lose. It's not perfect . . . but we live in a world of imperfect."
* * *
Costa's story, which was posted online later that day, described Bannon as "pitching a plan to West Wing aides and congressional allies to cripple the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to four people familiar with the discussions." But however many people
SIEGE 37
Costa had spoken to about the background machinations of Steve Bannon, what mattered was that he had spoken directly and at length to Bannon himself, who was using the Washington Post to pitch a plan to the president.
Bannon's three-part plan for Trump instantly made its way to the Oval Office. And the next morning, the president offered Kushner his view that he should fire Rosenstein, reinstate a claim of executive privilege, and get a tough-guy lawyer.
Kushner, pressing his own strategies, urged his father-in-law to move cautiously when it came to Rosenstein.
"Jared is spooked," said a scornful Trump later that day while on the phone to a confidant. "What a girl!"
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021142
Discussion 0
No comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this epstein document