"The day after firing Corney, the President told Russian officials that he had 'faced great pressure because of Russia,' which had been 'taken off' by Corney's firing. The next day, the President acknowledged in a television interview that he was going to fire Corney regardless of the Department of Justice's recommendation and that when he 'decided to just do it,' he was thinking that 'this thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'" (Pg 216 Special Counsel's Report)
(3) After the appointment of a Special Counsel, Donald J. Trump tried to get said Special Council removed, as delineated in the Special Counsel's final report:
"On June 17, 2017, the President called (White House Counsel) McGahn at home and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre." (Pg 216 Special Counsel's Report)
(4) On or about July 19, 2017, having failed to have the Special Counsel removed, Donald J. Trump did corruptly use his office in an attempt to intimidate Attorney General, Jeffrey Sessions to "unrecluse" himself from the investigation for the purpose of having him limit the scope of that investigation into future election interference, thereby removing himself and his campaign from the current probe. When Sessions refuses Donald J. Trump then corruptly uses his high office to issue public statements critical of Sessions in an attempt to threaten him.
"...the President publicly criticized Sessions in an interview with the New York Times, and then issued a series of tweets making it clear that Sessions's job was in jeopardy...
"The timing and circumstances of the President's actions support the conclusion that he sought that result. The President's initial direction that Sessions should limit the Special Counsel's investigation came just two days after the President had ordered McGahn to have the Special Counsel removed, which itself followed public reports that the President was personally under investigation for obstruction of justice. The sequence of those events raises an inference that after seeking to terminate the Special Counsel, the President sought to exclude his and his campaign's conduct from the investigation's." (Pg 302 Special Counsel Report)
(5) Donald J. Trump did, on several occasions, corruptly encouraged a witness in a Federal investigation against him to make statements to Federal law enforcement, the Special Counsel and/or the Grand Jury that he knew to be perjurious, false and/or misleading, as noted in the Special Counsel's report:
Witness Michael Flynn: "With regard to Flynn, the President sent private and public messages to Flynn encouraging him to stay strong and conveying that the President still cared about him before he began to cooperate with the government." (pg 218 Special Counsel Report)
Witness Paul Manafort: "With respect to Manafort, there is evidence that the President's actions had the potential to influence Manafort's decision whether to cooperate with the government. The President and his personal counsel made repeated statements suggesting that a pardon was a possibility for Manafort, while also making it clear that the President did not want Manafort to 'flip' and cooperate with the government." (Pg XXX Special Counsel Report)
Attempted Jury Tampering; Paul Manafort: "The President's public statements during the Manafort trial, including during jury deliberations, also had the potential to influence the trial jury. On the second day of trial, for example, the President called the prosecution a 'terrible situation' and a 'hoax' that 'continues to stain our country' and referred to Manafort as a 'Reagan/Dole darling' who was 'serving solitary confinement' even though he was 'convicted of nothing.'"
"Those statements were widely picked up by the press...the President's statements during the trial generated substantial media coverage that could have reached jurors if they happened to see the statements or learned about them from others. And the President's statements during jury deliberations that Manafort 'happens to be a very good person' and that 'it's very sad what they've done to Paul Manafort' had the potential to influence jurors who learned of the statements, which the President made just as jurors were considering whether to convict or acquit Manafort... We also examined the evidence of the President's intent in making public statements about Manafort at the beginning of his trial and when the jury was deliberating. Some evidence supports a conclusion that the President intended, at least in part, to influence the jury." (p 337 Special Counsel Report)
Witness: Michael Cohen: "In 2017, Cohen provided false testimony to Congress about the project, including stating that he had only briefed Trump on the (Moscow Trump Tower) project three times and never discussed travel to Russia with him, in an effort to adhere to a 'party line' that Cohen said was developed to minimize the President's connections to Russia. While preparing for his congressional testimony, Cohen had extensive discussions with the President's personal counsel, who, according to Cohen, said that Cohen should 'stay on message' and not contradict the President. After the FBI searched Cohen's home and office in April 2018, the President publicly asserted that Cohen would not 'flip,' and contacted him directly to tell him to 'stay strong,' and privately passed messages of support to him. Cohen also discussed pardons with the President's personal counsel and believed that if he stayed on message he would be taken care of." (Pg 218 Special Counsel Report)
"In analyzing the President's intent in his actions towards Cohen as a potential witness, there is evidence that could support the inference that the President intended to discourage Cohen from cooperating with the government because Cohen's information would shed adverse light on the President's campaign-period conduct and statements. The evidence could support an inference that the President was aware of these facts at the time of Cohen's false statements to Congress. The content and timing of the President's provision of information about his knowledge and actions regarding the Trump Tower Moscow project is evidence that the President may have been concerned about the information that Cohen could provide as a witness." (Pg 367 Special Counsel Report)
Witness Intimidation, Michael Cohen: "Finally, the President's statements insinuating that members of Cohen's family committed crimes after Cohen began cooperating with the government could be viewed as an effort to retaliate against Cohen and chill further testimony adverse to the President by Cohen or others." (Pps 363, 366, 368, Special Counsel Report)
Witness: Don McGahn: Defendant Trump was alarmed when he learned that (Donald) McGahn was cooperating with the Special Counsel, fearing that McGahn had revealed his attempts to have the Special Counsel fired. Knowing that McGahn's cooperation was likely to be ongoing, Defendant then tried to convince McGahn to change (falsify) his future public and private testimony:
"...in the Oval Office meeting, the President indicated he knew that McGahn had told the Special Counsel's Office about the President's effort to remove the Special Counsel. The President challenged McGahn for disclosing that information and for taking notes that he viewed as creating unnecessary legal exposure. That evidence indicates the President's awareness that the June 17, 2017 events were relevant to the Special Counsel's investigation and any grand jury investigation that might grow out of it. (Pps 330, 331)
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