Thursday night, former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci appeared on CNN to discuss the bombshell New York Times report that said President Donald Trump ordered the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, only to change his mind when White House Counsel Don McGahn threatened to quit.
Scaramucci told host Chris Cuomo that it doesn’t matter what Trump said to McGahn, because it was a privileged conversation. He supported his argument by saying that he went to Harvard Law School, as if to indicate this means he knows what he’s talking about.
He sat down with the White House Counsel in a private conversation, the president, in a privileged conversation with his attorney — I did go to Harvard Law School, and I know what a privileged conversation is … you’re telling me that your president is not allowed to have a confidential conversation with the White House Counsel?
Scaramucci later brought up his Harvard cred a second time. That didn’t sway Cuomo, who apparently wasn’t the only one not convinced.
Enter Walter Shaub. Now, Shaub may not have gone to Harvard, but he is an attorney and he was the Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, so he knows a thing or two about legal matters in Washington. Shaub called out The Mooch on Twitter, saying that he’s dead wrong about Trump’s conversation with McGahn being privileged.
Scaramucci playing magic pretend lawyer on @CNN tells Chris Cuomo that Trump’s conversations with McGahn are privileged. Nope. It’s not true. Oh please, @ChrisCuomo call “Fake News” on the Mooch!
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 26, 2018
When asked to explain, Shaub tweeted that McGahn’s client is the government, not Donald Trump, so his discussions with Trump are not protected by attorney-client privilege.
No attorney client privilege between McGahn and Trump. McGahn is not his personal attorney. McGahn’s client is the government.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 26, 2018
It’s easy to see how this could be confusing. The White House Counsel’s job is to give legal support to the president and his office, but he serves the White House as a whole, and is a public servant. He is not the president’s personal attorney.
Now, even a Harvard man like Scaramucci is entitled to make mistakes, but his alma mater would probably prefer that he takes his own advice and leaves them out of it.
[Image via CNN screengrab]
