During his time working on the Trump campaign and later as White House press secretary, Sean Spicer filled took copious notes, which may soon figure into Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump and Russia.
Spicer filled “notebook after notebook” and his colleagues joked he would write a tell-all memoir, reported Axios. During his time with the Republican National Committee, Spicer filled black notebooks stamped with the party’s seal. “Sean documented everything,” a source familiar with the note-taking said.
Spicer is one of five current and former Trump associates who have been notified by Mueller that they are potential interviewees in the investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to swing the 2016 presidential election, The Washington Post reported earlier this month. Those people are believed to have taken part in internal discussions relevant to Mueller’s investigation.
“People are going to wish they’d been nicer to Sean,” one White House official told Axios on Thursday. “He was in a lot of meetings.”
Note-taking is a departure from usual White House procedure; White House staffers from previous administrations deliberately took few notes because of past investigations.
When contacted by the Axios reporter Mike Allen, Spicer got angry and threatened to contact authorities.
“Please refrain from sending me unsolicited texts and emails,” Spicer told Allen in an email. “Should you not do so I will contact the appropriate legal authorities to address your harassment.”
In an interview with ABC News today, Spicer said he had “not knowingly” lied to the American public during his time as press secretary, a tenure that was clouded from its first day, when Spicer angrily insisted that Trump’s inauguration audience was the biggest ever, a claim refuted by photos.
The footprint of Mueller’s potential evidence is growing quickly. Earlier this week, CNN reported that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was wiretapped by secret court order before and after the election. Manafort has been warned he could be indicted on tax and financial crimes. Mueller’s team is reaching back 11 years in its investigation into Manafort’s dealings, including payments he received as a consultant for the Ukraine’s former ruling party.
