President Donald Trump exploded at his former lawyer, John Dowd, after reading news reports that said special counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank.
Bob Woodward reported on the exchange in his upcoming book, “Fear: Trump in the White House.”
Dowd reportedly received assurances from Mueller’s team that the subpoena did not have to deal directly with the president.
President Donald Trump exploded at his former lawyer, John Dowd, after reading news reports that said the special counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank, journalist Bob Woodward reported in his upcoming book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” which Business Insider obtained and reviewed.
After learning of the news regarding Mueller and Deutsche Bank, a primary lender to the president, Woodward wrote that a furious Trump phoned Dowd at 7 a.m.
“I know my relationships with Deutsche Bank,” Trump told Dowd, with Woodward writing that the president said the bank loved him and was always paid for its loans. “I know what I borrowed, when I borrowed, when I paid it back. I know every godd— one.”
Trump added that “this is bulls—!”
Dowd then spoke with Jim Quarles, a member of Mueller’s team who was also an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate probe. Dowd repeated Trump’s assertion that “this is bulls—.”
During a conference call, Quarles said that Mueller’s team had subpoenas issued to Deutsche Bank “way back in the summertime, but it doesn’t involve the president or his finances.”
The New York Times reported earlier this year that those reports led to Trump seeking to fire Mueller in December. But Trump backed down once the initial news reports, which said the subpoenas were aimed at Trump’s and his family’s dealings with the bank, were inaccurate. Instead, The Times reported that federal prosecutors in a separate inquiry issued a subpoena for entities that were connected to White House senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Times columnist David Leonhardt wrote this weekend about the possible nexus between Trump’s business and Russian money laundering involving Deutsche Bank, which has been tied to such illicit money.
