President Trump once snapped at then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster for taking notes during a meeting, according to The New York Times.
McMaster, who left his position in April 2018, regularly took notes during meetings, which eventually prompted Trump to snap and ask, “Why are you always writing in that book?” according to the Times.
Cliff Sims, a former Trump communications aide who is suing the president, told the paper that he and other White House staff often took notes during meetings with Trump to ensure they were all on the same page with him but also to ensure they could back up their side of events in many cases.
{mosads}“I do think there’s also a pervasive sense in this White House that at some point you’re going to have to set the record straight or give your perspective on events that took place, or actions you took — or didn’t take — as the case may be,” Sims told the Times.
Former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, who surreptitiously recorded Trump during her time in the White House and eventually wrote a tell-all book based in part on the recordings, also said documentation was necessary.
“The first time I worked in the White House, for the Clinton administration, we were reluctant to send as many emails or to document so many things,” she told the Times. “But in the Trump White House, it is a requirement that you document these things always to protect yourself.”
Other staff and officials who took notes, many of which were eventually obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller, included Stephen Miller, an adviser to Trump; Rob Porter, the former staff secretary; Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff; and Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the former director of the National Security Agency.
The redacted version of Mueller’s report released Thursday includes a section in which Trump expressed suspicion over former White House counsel Don McGahn’s practice of taking notes, telling him, “Lawyers don’t take notes. I never had a lawyer who took notes.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.