Report details how the president wields power and demands devotion.
By Marc Fisher Marc Fisher Senior editor reporting on a wide range of topics Email Bio Follow April 18 at 6:04 PM The cavalcade of evidence in the Mueller Report showing that President Trump repeatedly sought to limit, discourage and end the investigation into his campaign’s connections to Russia’s interference with U.S. elections may or may not fit the legal definition of obstruction, but it definitively demonstrates how Trump has always done business.
The president portrayed in Mueller’s report is strikingly similar to the real estate developer, casino magnate and TV celebrity who spent four decades crafting a public image as a playboy billionaire with a populist touch and an outrageous mouth. Mueller’s investigators present a detailed narrative showing Trump calling aides at home at night, clearing the room to deliver a personal appeal, naming names and spewing insults — whatever it took to demand loyalty and hit back at perceived enemies.
He built his business around his personal brand, his media-fueled presentation of himself as a can-do billionaire who got results by doing end runs around the rules. Building his company as a tight family circle, bolstered by a tiny group of totally committed lawyers and executives, allowed Trump to withstand bankruptcies, business collapses, lawsuits, federal investigations and an avalanche of bad publicity.
Even one of Trump’s original political loyalists, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, found a way to avoid executing the president’s order. After Trump dictated a message for Lewandowski to deliver to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, directing Sessions to publicly announce that the president had done nothing wrong and that Mueller’s investigation would be sharply limited, Lewandowski told Trump he’d do it.
Cohn, Trump’s first attorney and most valued adviser in the early years of his career, was a notorious rule-breaker, an aggressive advocate whose client list included alleged mob bosses and who was ultimately disbarred. Cohn taught Trump two of his most enduring mantras: Never back down, and when you’re hit, hit back a hundred times harder.
“I know all about flipping,” Trump told Fox News. “For 30, 40 years, I’ve been watching flippers. Everything’s wonderful, and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is, or as high as you can go.”
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